Police arrested three people in Athens yesterday after they took delivery of a three-kilo parcel that contained khat, an illegal plant that acts as a stimulant, in what authorities said was the first time the drug has been found in Greece.

Police said that they tracked the package, that was sent from London via Belgium, after a tip-off from Belgium police. Khat, legal in some European countries, is a plant that is mostly grown in East Africa and offers those that chew it a euphoric feeling that is similar to taking an amphetamine.

The three arrested, two Greek men of Ethiopian background and an Ethiopian woman, have been allegedly supplying their compatriots in Athens with the plant. Authorities said they believe that the consumption of khat, also known as Abyssinian tea or African salad, is limited to the local Ethiopian community. One of the suspects had three more kilos of khat stored in his freezer, police said.