A 61-year-old Baltimore man has been indicted on federal bribery charges after allegedly offering money to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer to release a shipment of kratom that had been held at a port of entry. Zen Aljufri was charged with two counts of bribing a federal official, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if he is convicted.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office statement cited by CBS News, Aljufri allegedly offered the money to a CBP officer in exchange for release of the shipment, which involved mitragyna speciosa, the plant more commonly known as kratom. The U.S. Department of Justice, District of Maryland says the indictment alleges Aljufri corruptly offered to pay a CBP officer to release goods from a hold at a port of entry, and that he did so with the intent to influence the public official to aid in defrauding the United States. These remain allegations at this stage, not a finding of guilt.
The investigation was handled by CBP's Baltimore field office, per the same account. CBP has said the indictment alleges Aljufri corruptly offered to pay a CBP officer to release goods from a port-of-entry hold, and that Aljufri allegedly intended to influence a public official to help defraud the United States and violate official duty, according to a CBP statement referenced in the report.
Why the Shipment Was Flagged in the First Place
CBP said the shipment was placed on hold because kratom was included in the FDA's red list, the station's report notes. That designation stems from U.S. Food and Drug Administration Import Alert 54-15, which states that specified dietary supplements and bulk dietary ingredients from firms listed on the alert's RED LIST have been found to contain kratom.
Mitragyna speciosa is derived from a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia, according to the FDA. Kratom leaf products are sold in some places as a nutritional supplement or medical aid and are available online and in some U.S. brick-and-mortar stores, per the same reporting. The FDA has said it will continue to warn the public against using kratom for medical treatment until scientists evaluate its safety and effectiveness, and separately notes that kratom's compounds may produce classic opioid-related effects such as sedation, nausea or vomiting, constipation, physical dependence or withdrawal, and respiratory depression that may lead to death, according to the fda.gov page on kratom.
Kratom imports have drawn federal scrutiny before. In 2020, CBP said lab results confirmed a seized substance to be kratom that was also contaminated with salmonella, according to a cbp.gov release describing that earlier case.
A Different Port, a Different Drug, a Similar Charge
Bribery allegations against people trying to move goods past customs officers aren't unheard of elsewhere in the country, though the circumstances vary widely. In Texas, former CBP officer Oziel Cantu was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison after taking a bribe from an undercover agent to allow what was purported to be a cocaine shipment through the Pharr port of entry, according to myrgv.com. The initial criminal complaint in that case said Cantu accepted a $15,000 bribe to facilitate the importation of 25 pounds of cocaine, though the supposed drug trafficker turned out to be a federal agent and the cocaine was fake, the outlet reported. Cantu's original 10-year sentence was vacated by a federal appellate court on July 6, 2023, after it found he had been sentenced using an incorrect guideline range, before he received his new sentence.
No outcome, plea, or trial date has been reported in Aljufri's case, and it is not stated whether the kratom shipment itself was ultimately released, seized, or otherwise resolved. If convicted on both counts, Aljufri would face a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison for each, according to the CBP-attributed figures in the CBS report.
