It turns out that the khat was in shopping bags, in plain sight, in the back seat of the vehicle.
And, yes, local LEO's have plenty of experience with khat to know it when they see it.
Actually I knew the guy, he was from Ethiopia, and they did know that that substance was not legal , They would send drug traffickers to get the drugs, They had a brother in Woodbury that helped them, sure they would sell the stuff, but it was mainly to the elderly, the young people used this because it caused a heightened sexual experiences and helped the students to study better, It is a common recreational drug and they have this at every social gathering, the man had several prior arrests and such, so it was not just because of a broken tail light, plus the guy did not drive well, so then his name was probably run and seen that he had prior drug charges, that is what caused the police to search the guys car.