An Argentinian man was wrongfully imprisoned after police mistook 18 containers of talcum powder for cocaine and it took three weeks to analyze the true nature of the substance.

In early October, Maximiliano Acosta got on a bus in the town of Mendoza towards the capital, Buenos Aires. Shortly after, the bus was stopped in La Paz for what was supposed to be a routine check by a team of gendarmes. Upon checking the passengers’ baggage, the gendarmes discovered that Acosta had 18 containers of talcum powder and questioned him about it. Despite the man’s explanation that the containers actually contained talcum powder for personal use, the gendarmes detained him on suspicion of drug possession. The tests that followed the arrest, allegedly showed that the 18 containers were full of cocaine, and Maximiliano was put behind bars without so much as alerting his family about his situation.

As a result of the checks, officers detected that a citizen was carrying containers of talcum powder for personal hygiene in his belongings,” the Gendarmerie said in a statement on October 2, adding that a total of 2 kilograms and 444 grams of cocaine had been seized in the operation. This was such a big bust that even Argentina’s Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, posted about it on social media.

“A LOT OF TALC, LITTLE EFFICIENCY. A man tried to bypass a checkpoint in Mendoza, carrying more than 2kg of cocaine hidden in talc containers inside a long-distance bus,” Bullrich wrote. “But the Gendarmerie quickly discovered him thanks to his nervousness and suspicious attitude.”

Following Maximiliano Acosta’s protests, the white powder was sent to another lab for testing, but he was thrown in jail until the second results came. The man claims that police didn’t even bother letting his family know he had been arrested, and that his confiscated belongings were stolen while he was behind bars.

“We called everywhere; we asked for the passenger list. Nobody knew anything. We spent two days without knowing where Maxi was,” The man’s mother said.

Maximiliano Acosta was detained for 21 days until the second test results came. It turned out that the white powder was plain talcum powder, and he was released. Only instead of an apology, he was let go on a country road and had to appeal to motorists to return home. As for the gendarmerie, a spokesperson pretty much told the media that Acosta’s detention was an honest mistake.

There is no flaw in any investigation, talcum powder is always confused with cocaine and the Security Forces warned that it could be a false positive. Unfortunately, until it was proven, they kept him in jail,” Patricia Bullrich said.

As for why Maximiliano Acosta was traveling with 18 containers of talcum powder, his mother told Argentinian media that he had fallen on hard times and he had bought the containers to resell in the capital. Moral of the story? Don’t be like Maximiliano, 18 bottles of talcum powder can seem a bit suspicious.