An MBA graduate from Hyderabad who went to the Gulf region in search of a job has been imprisoned in Qatar for nearly two months now, on charges of carrying a suspected narcotic substance. However, the young man and his family have insisted that he is innocent, and he was merely carrying talcum powder wrapped in facial tissue paper, to deal with the heat. According to reports, 28-year-old Mohammed Nawaz, an MBA graduate from Uppuguda in Hyderabad’s Old City, was detained on December 11 by customs officials in Doha, after they found a powder-like substance wrapped in a tissue paper in his laptop bag.
Deccan Chronicle reported that as Nawaz insisted that he was innocent and was merely carrying talcum powder, a sample of the substance was sent to a laboratory for testing, the results of which have been reportedly delayed till now. President of Telangana Welfare Association in Qatar, Khaja Nizamuddin told Deccan Chronicle that Mohammed Nawaz had moved to Dubai in 2021 in search of a job. When his job search in Dubai failed, he decided to travel to Qatar to continue his search. On December 11, when he arrived in Doha, he was taken into custody on the charges of carrying narcotic substances in facial tissue paper, and has been in a prison cell since then, according to Nizamuddin.
Telangana Today reported that Mohammed Nawaz’s family members in Hyderabad have also insisted that he is innocent and that he was merely carrying Pond’s talcum powder to avoid discomfort in the heat.
Nizamuddin said that due to the third wave of COVID-19 and a spike in flu cases in December, the laboratory test results have been delayed and are yet to be received by the officials. He said that the Telangana Welfare Association in Qatar will meet with lawyers and embassy officials next week to resolve the issue.