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An Indian-origin man in Arkansas, Kapil Raghu, is trying to get his US visa reinstated after being wrongly arrested when police mistook a perfume bottle for drugs. His lawyer said Raghu now faces the risk of deportation because of the mistake. The incident happened on May 3, when Raghu was stopped by Benton police for a minor traffic issue. During the stop, officers found a small bottle labelled “opium” in his car. Believing it to be the illegal drug opium, they arrested him, even though Raghu kept explaining that it was just a designer perfume.
According to The Guardian, the whole event was recorded on police body cameras. In the video, one officer can be heard saying, “You got a vial of opium that was in your centre console.”
At the time of the arrest, Raghu was working as a food delivery driver. He later told the Saline Courier, a local newspaper, that he had followed all the rules and was shocked and confused by what happened.
Raghu, who is married to an American citizen and was in the process of applying for a green card, was later sent to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre after the arrest.
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
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
The Arkansas State Crime Lab has confirmed that the bottle found in Kapil Raghu’s car contained perfume, not opium.
Even though the substance turned out to be harmless, Raghu still spent three days in the Saline County jail. During this time, officials said there was a problem with his immigration paperwork, claiming his visa had expired. His lawyer, Mike Laux, said this happened because of an administrative mistake.
After that, Raghu was moved to a federal immigration centre in Louisiana, where he was detained by ICE for 30 days, according to The Guardian. The drug charges were dropped by a district court on May 20, but by then, his visa had already been revoked, putting his legal status in the U.S. at risk.
Attorney Laux told The Guardian that Raghu is now under “deportation status”, which means he could be deported for even a minor offence, like jaywalking. This status also prevents him from working, leaving his family without income.
In a letter to ICE’s legal office, Raghu explained that his visa issue was caused by his former attorney’s failure to submit paperwork on time. He is now asking for his visa to be restored through proper legal procedures.
“The growing legal costs and not being able to help my family financially have made life very hard,” Raghu wrote. “My wife is carrying all the financial burden.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has not commented on the case.
Raghu said his wife, Alhley Mays, became so distressed that she even considered moving abroad. “She used to call me every night, crying, with my stepdaughter beside her, holding a Bible to her chest,” Raghu told THV11, an Arkansas-based news outlet. “My wife was planning to sell her car and move to another country where we could live peacefully.”
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