Dear Friends, Yesterday I came to know of a case from a friend of mine which is very scary. One of his friends was travelling to the UK via Dubai. Unfortunately, he was carrying a packet of Khas Khas which is a commonly used spice in some Indian curries and sweets. Khas Khas is also known as poppy seed which can be sprouted to grow narcotics (afeem etc.).
Unaware of recent laws: This innocent person did not know that recently the laws in UAE and other Gulf countries have been revised and carrying Khas Khas is punishable with a minimum of 20 years of imprisonment or even worse with the death penalty. Currently, the person has been in jail in Dubai for the last two weeks.
Lawyer Fees AED 100,000! His friends are frantically trying hard for his release but are finding that this has become a very very serious case. Lawyers are asking huge fees amounting to AED 100,000 even to appear in court to plead for his innocence.
Prohibited articles: Please forward this email to all you know, especially in India They should know the seriousness of this matter and should never ever carry even the minutest quantities of the following items when travelling to Gulf countries. Khas Khas whether raw, roasted or cooked.2. Paan 3. Beetle nut (supari and its products, e.g. Paan Parag etc.). The penalties here are very severe and it could destroy the life of an innocent person.
I appeal to you to create awareness by forwarding this message to all you know.
Inputs Courtesy: Ganesh Joshi, Senior Journalist based in Hubballi.
All you would like to know about Khas Khas seeds:
Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium puppy. The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, especially in Central Europe and South Asia, where it is legally grown and sold in shops. The seeds are used whole or ground into meal as an ingredient in many, especially in pastry and bread-and they are pressed to yield poppyseed oil.
The poppy seed is mentioned in ancient medical texts from many civilizations. For instance, the Egyptian papyrus scroll named Ebers Papyrus, written c. 1550 BC, lists poppy seed as a sedative. The Minoan civilization (approximately 2700 to 1450 BC), a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete, cultivated poppies for their seed and used a milk, opium and honey mixture to calm crying babies. The Sumerians are another civilization that is known to have grown poppy seeds.
Poppy seeds are less than a millimetre in length, kidney-shaped, and have a pitted surface. It takes about 3,300 poppy seeds to make up a gram, and between 1 and 2 million seeds to make up a pound.[2] The primary flavour compound is 2-pentyl furan.
The seeds are cultivated for the flowers they produce. Annual and biennial poppies are used to cultivate from seed as they are not difficult to propagate, and can be put directly in the ground during winter. The California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), for example, is a striking orange wildflower that grows in the Western and Northwestern United States.
In 2018, world production of poppy seeds was 76,240 tonnes, led by Turkey with 35% of the world total, followed by the Czech Republic and Spain as other major producers (table).
The poppy seeds harvest can be a by-product of the cultivation of Papaver somniferum for opium, poppy straw, or both opium and poppy straw. However, harvesting poppy seeds of superior quality is in conflict with harvesting for opium as poppy seeds should be harvested when they are ripe after the seed pod has dried. Traditionally, opium is harvested while the seed pods are green the seeds have just begun to grow and their latex is abundant. Poppy straw can be a by-product of the cultivation of poppy seeds. Compared to the seed pod and straw, the seeds contain very low levels of opiates. The seeds may be washed to obtain poppy tea but a large amount is needed, around 300–400 g depending on the levels of opiates.
Since poppy seeds are relatively expensive, they are sometimes mixed with the seeds of Amaranthus paniculatus, which closely resemble poppy seeds.
Information Courtesy: Wikipedia.
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