How A Perfume Bottle Mistaken For Opium Landed An Indian Man In Visa Trouble

An Indian national living in the United States was detained for nearly a month after a bottle of perfume in his car was wrongly identified as an illegal drug, according to The Guardian. Kapil Raghu, who is married to an American citizen and working towards US citizenship, was stopped by police in Benton, Arkansas, on May 3 for a minor traffic violation. During the stop, officers found a small perfume bottle labelled "Opium" and assumed it contained the banned narcotic.

According to Guardian, Despite Raghu explaining that it was simply a branded fragrance, he was arrested and later detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for nearly four weeks.

On May 3, 2025, a routine traffic stop in Benton, Arkansas, turned absurd when police arrested a man after mistaking his vial of YSL “Opium” perfume for actual opium- a blunder captured on video that led to his wrongful detention. pic.twitter.com/Y8At1q99L3

— X Case Files (@XCaseFiles) August 22, 2025

Raghu's lawyer, Mike Laux, said that the arrest was based on a misunderstanding and that the charges have since been dropped. Bodycam footage from the police shows officers accusing Raghu of drug possession while he tried to clarify that it was just perfume.

"You got a vial of opium that was in your center console," an officer told Raghu. "Go and take a seat."

"I was not doing anything wrong when he pulled me over. I was following all regulations," said Raghu, who told the Saline Courier that he was making a food delivery when he was stopped.

Ashley Mays, Raghu's wife, arrived at the scene and said: "I'm confused on why he's going to jail."

The Arkansas State Crime Lab concluded that the substance in the bottle was perfume, not opium, but still Raghu spent three days in the Saline county jail, where authorities found an "administrative/legal error" showing his visa status had expired, according to his attorney.

Ice officers took Raghu into custody and sent him to a federal immigration facility in Louisiana, where he was detained for 30 days.

"She used to call me every night," Raghu told THV11, speaking next to his wife. "Crying, and my stepdaughter putting a Bible on her chest, crying. My stepdaughter was crying a lot. And she [Mays] was planning to sell her cars and move to some other country where we can live happily."

While the charges against Raghu were officially dropped by a district court judge on 20 May, the Ice detainment put a blip on his journey to becoming a permanent citizen. Mays said in a fundraising page to cover legal fees and basic expenses that Raghu's work visa was revoked.

With the legal case closed, Raghu is now working to have his visa status reinstated, as the incident caused complications with his immigration process.