St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE:STJ) CEO Daniel Starks was arrested in India yesterday after authorities at the Delhi airport found a single live round tucked into a knee pocket of his cargo pants.
Daniel Starks, in India on business, was about to take a chartered flight from the Indira Gandhi International Airport to Dharamsala. He was stopped by India’s Central Industrial Security Force in the airport’s VIP lounge, where authorities found the .45 caliber shell in his pants.
Starks showed authorities his American gun license. Because it’s not valid outside the U.S., Starks was arrested, taken to court and then sent to “one-day judicial custody,” a deputy police commissioner told The Indian Express. Starks could not explain why he was carrying the ammunition, according to the newspaper.
St. Jude told Reuters that Starks “inadvertently” left the shell in his clothes and that he was cooperating fully with authorities. He’s scheduled to appear in court today.
According to Chapters 4 and 5 of the Indian Arms Act, covertly transporting ammunition is punishable by up to seven years in prison. Other similar offenses carry punishments of up to a year. But it would be shocking if Starks got such a sentence. He arrived in India Feb. 19 with a multiple entry visa, according to a media report. Starks was in recently in Malaysia to celebrate the opening of a new manufacturing facility there. More than half of St. Jude’s revenue comes from outside the U.S.
