Doha, Qatar: Security equipment at Bhopal Airport, India, mistakenly flagged packets of cooking spices as illegal drugs, leading to an Indian businessman being jailed for 57 days.
According to The Independent, an Indian businessman was traveling in central state of Madhya Pradesh, en route to Malaysia via Delhi, when explosive trace detection machines flagged the packets of aamchur (dry mango powder) and garam masala as containing heroin and a psychotropic substance.
The businessman was arrested under the India Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropics Substances, holding him in custody while samples were sent for testing.
Ten days after testing, the regional forensic laboratory claimed the lack of adequate equipment to test for the psychotropic substance flagged by the scanner.
Justice Deepak Khot said the initial arrest was made on reasonable grounds, though the businessman could have been released sooner had the state possessed adequate equipment.
"When cases like this are sent for investigation to the regional forensic laboratory, no opinion was given, and finally, when the samples were sent to the central lab, it was found that it does not contain contraband, which took about 57 days of the petitioner's life suffered in jail for no fault on his part," the court said in its order.
The petitioner argued that the Canada-manufactured detection machine was not designed to handle aromatic Indian spices, potentially triggering a false positive.
According to The Times of India, the Madhya Pradesh High Court awarded Rs 10 lakh, approximately USD 10,000, in compensation to the Indian businessman.
