Five Twin Cities Somalis charged in a khat smuggling ring had their cases moved Friday from federal court in Minneapolis to New York.

And for a moment it appeared the men would be released from jail.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Hollenhorst said he would appeal the decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Janie Mayeron allowing them out on bail.

Proceedings in New York, where they were indicted, are scheduled for next week.

The Minnesotans are among 44 people named in an indictment returned in New York. In court Friday were Ali Awad, Abdi Emil Moge, Abdinur Ahmed Dahir, Ismail Ali Mohamed and Hassan Sadiq Mohamed.

Khat, a mild narcotic grown in east Africa, is illegal in the United States.

Daniel Gerdts, representing Moge, said in court that his client wasn't a flight risk if released.

"No one goes back to Somalia. They don't even have a government," he said. It was an argument repeated by other defense attorneys.

Attorney Daniel Schermer, representing Dahir, said that his client lives in subsidized housing and that there's no evidence he is wealthy.

Jordan Kushner said his client, Ismail Ali Mohamed, is a naturalized citizen with a wife and family and hasn't left the county in the 16 years he's lived here.

He argued that if Mohamed is kept in custody, he probably would serve more time than if he were convicted.