Moscow region court sentences Walt Disney manager to two and a half years in prison after gummy candy with cannabis found in his luggage

Source: Khimki Court

A court in the Moscow region city of Khimki sentenced a Walt Disney Company manager to two and a half years in a penal colony and fined him 30,000 rubles on drug trafficking charges, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported, citing the court’s press service.

The defendant, Jugal Sudhir Daterao, is a citizen of India. A person with that name and the title of enterprise program manager at The Walt Disney Company can be found on LinkedIn.

Daterao flew to Russia from Qatar in January 2026, the television channel RTVI, which reviewed the court ruling, reported. At Sheremetyevo Airport, officers stopped him for inspection and found gummy candy containing tetrahydrocannabinol. In court, he argued that the substance had been prescribed by a doctor in the United States to manage complications from brain surgery.

The court’s website contains a case file showing the case was filed on February 27 and a guilty verdict handed down on May 26. Sudhir was charged under articles covering illegal possession and transportation of narcotics (Article 228 of the Criminal Code) and drug smuggling (Article 229.1 of the Criminal Code). No further details are listed.

Prosecutors had sought six and a half years in a penal colony. The court imposed a sentence below the statutory minimum for the charges because Jugal Sudhir Daterao pleaded guilty.

The verdict was delivered by Judge Anna Sotnikova. RTVI noted that she also presided over the case of American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport in February 2022 over vape cartridges containing hash oil. Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony and was later exchanged for arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been serving time in an American prison.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

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Moscow region court sentences Walt Disney manager to two and a half years in prison after gummy candy with cannabis found in his luggage

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