Police Mistake YSL Opium Cologne for Drugs, Arrest Driver

A site visitors cease in Benton, Arkansas took a stunning flip when police arrested a person after mistaking his YSL ‘Opium’ cologne for precise narcotics.

It occurred on Could 3, 2025, when officers with the Benton Police Division pulled over Kapil Raghu for having a reflective license plate cowl. What began as a minor site visitors subject escalated rapidly after officers searched his automobile and located a small glass vial labeled “Opium (W)” full of a darkish liquid.

Believing the liquid could possibly be a managed substance based mostly solely on the label and look, officers arrested Raghu on the spot for possession of a Schedule II drug. He was taken to the Saline County Detention Facility whereas the substance was despatched to the Arkansas State Crime Lab.

However right here’s the place issues get wild: the “suspicious” substance turned out to be nothing greater than YSL’s common ladies’s perfume, ‘Opium.’ A luxurious scent offered at department shops throughout the globe, not an unlawful narcotic.

Even after this mix-up, Raghu didn’t stroll free. ICE positioned a detainer on him for unrelated immigration points, and he was transferred into their custody regardless of the drug cost being dropped.

Police Chief Scott Hodges later confirmed that when the lab rushed outcomes and decided it was cologne, the case was closed on the narcotics aspect. Nonetheless, the scenario raised critical issues about how rapidly officers jumped to conclusions based mostly on packaging alone.

A viral video of the incident exhibits officers opening Raghu’s mail and inspecting the bottle earlier than making the arrest. It’s now fueling on-line debate over racial profiling, immigration enforcement, and the way one thing as widespread as a perfume can spiral into authorized hassle.

Video 

YSL’s ‘Opium’ is much from a road drug. For Kapil Raghu, nonetheless, carrying the mistaken scent on the mistaken time value him his freedom.

Supply: my saline.com