Scroll for the article, news release and video below. 👇
You may have seen a video circulating on social media on Thursday that shows a man getting arrested by Benton Police Department after he was apparently pulled over for a non-regulation license plate cover. The video shows an officer searching the man’s vehicle, opening mail and finding a small bottle of what the officer said he thought was liquid opium. The video was published to a YouTube channel called The Random Patriot. Read more story below, and the statement from Benton Police Department, and see the mugshot and finally the video.
According to the video, BNPD sent the substance to the state crime lab and eventually found that it was a bottle of cologne named Opium. The subject has been arrested though and stayed in custody after ICE picked him up.
This was Mr. Raghu’s picture and arrest info on the Saline County Detention Center Roster. https://www.mysaline.com/mugshots-05052025/
Watch the video at the end of this article for more, including body cam footage since BNPD wears them, and an interview for Mr. Raghu and his wife. On Thursday evening I asked Benton Police Chief Scott Hodges for a statement, and he ended up using a news release. It is below:
On 5/3/2025, an officer with the Benton Police Department conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for having a reflective covering over the license plate. Contact was made with the driver, Kapil Raghu.
During the traffic stop, a consent search of the vehicle yielded a non-mainstream commercial glass vial that was marked “Opium (W)” and contained a dark colored liquid. Based on the totality of the circumstances known to the officer at the time of the incident, the officer believed the vial contained a controlled substance.
Mr. Raghu was placed under arrest and transported to the Saline County Detention Facility for processing. He later bonded out on this charge and was transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on unrelated charges after a detainer was placed on him by that agency.
After speaking with a relative of Mr. Raghu about the situation, our department asked the Arkansas State Crime Lab if they would “put a rush” on testing the substance, which they did. Once it was determined the substance was not an illegal narcotic, charges were subsequently dropped in the case.
An investigation into this matter is currently ongoing at this time.
