A 50-year-old foreign national arriving from Doha, Qatar, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after Russian customs officers discovered cannabis-infused gummies in his luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport.
According to Russia’s Federal Customs Service, the passenger was passing through the airport’s “green channel” when a trained customs sniffer dog, Brownie, alerted officers to his suitcase. A subsequent search uncovered a plastic container labelled “Peach Bellini” containing 22 grams of yellow gummy sweets concealed among his personal belongings
Laboratory tests later confirmed that the gummies contained tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis, which is classified as a prohibited narcotic substance under Russian law.
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The passenger was immediately detained, and investigators opened a criminal case under Article 229.1, Part 2 (“v”) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which covers the smuggling of narcotic substances in significant quantities.
Following the investigation, a Russian court found the man guilty, sentencing him to two years and six months in prison and imposing a fine of 30,000 rubles.
The case serves as another reminder that products containing cannabis or THC even if legally purchased elsewhere can attract severe criminal penalties when brought into countries with strict anti-drug laws such as Russia.
