Spices dubbed narcotics,engineer spends 55 days in jail

An engineer working for a Malaysian company spent 55 days behind bars because a machine at the Bhopal airport diagnosed the spices...

An engineer working for a Malaysian company spent 55 days behind bars because a machine at the Bhopal airport diagnosed the spices he was carrying,including garam masala and dry mango powder,as narcotics. He was released on Friday after a report from Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL),Hyderabad,gave him a clean chit.

Ajay Singh was flying to New Delhi from Gwalior on May 7,on way to Malaysia,when the CISF detained him for a routine check. Soon,the 39-year-old was told that an explosive trace detector had found that one packet of garam masala he was carrying contained 4 per cent heroin while the packet of aamchur contained 10 per cent MDEA (a substance neither he,nor Bhopal SSP Adarsh Katiar had ever heard of before,by their own admission).

The engineer was returning to Malaysia to his wife and children and was carrying back his annual quota of spices from Gwalior,where his parents live.

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Despite his explanations about his background and the details he gave about the supermarket from where he routinely purchased the spices,the CISF handed him over to the police.

Singh was booked under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for carrying contraband,an offence that enabled the police to seek his remand. And since Bhopal has facilities to check only heroin and not MDEA,the samples were sent to CFSL,Hyderabad.

Singh spent 14 days in police custody and 41 days in jail before the police received the test report from the CFSL on Thursday,and submitted a discharge application in a local court.

Ajays father M P Singh said the family would move court to seek justice for the ordeal his son went through. You are trusting a machine that you dont know how to operate… This can happen to anyone, Ajay told The Sunday Express,saying the machine was operated by people who were not trained,a charge denied by the CISF. There is no reason why I should not take legal action. I have been left with no choice… They were not listening to what I was explaining. I was not ill-treated by the police or in jail,but what about the mental agony? I was locked inside,not knowing what was happening outside.

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Bhopal SSP Adarsh Katiyar said the police only went by the written report given by the CISF. The report mentioned the quantity of contraband in the spices and they had no choice but to wait for the lab report,the SSP said.

Normally such reports take up to six months,but I called them up twice to expedite it, Katiar said.

Despite repeated attempts,CISF Deputy Commandant Anil Damor was not available for comment.