The Russian customs service has arrested a 28-year-old United States (US) citizen who arrived from Istanbul at Moscow airport because he had a cannabis-laced candy that was detected by a sniffer dog.
Customs says the passenger clearly had the candy prescribed to him by a doctor in the US.
A criminal investigation has been launched against him for drug smuggling, which is punishable by up to ten years in prison.
A Russian court today released footage of the American in a suspect cage during a hearing that ended with a detention order of at least 30 days.
Reuters reports that the American citizen's name is Kalob Wayne Byers.
Russia is holding several Americans in prison on charges of drug trafficking, violence and other crimes, and the US claims that Russia is arresting them to exchange them for Russians convicted in the West.
Mark Fogel, an American imprisoned since 2021 for cannabis that he claimed was for medical use, was exchanged this week with the US for Russian Alexander Vinik, a cyber expert accused of crimes related to trading the cryptocurrency BTC.
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