An Indian businessman spent 57 days in prison after security equipment at a domestic airport flagged packets of common cooking spices as heroin, a court has ruled, awarding him £9,000 in compensation.
The man was travelling through Bhopal airport in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, en route to Malaysia via Delhi, when explosive trace detection machines indicated that packets of two common Indian spices – garam masala, an aromatic spice blend, and aamchur, a dried mango powder – contained heroin and a psychotropic substance.
