(From left) Vikram Chatwal, Padma Lakshmi and Hillary Clinton at a fund-raising dinner in New York in 2004. Picture by Jay Mandal/On Assignment

New York, April 5 (PTI): Vikram Chatwal, an Indian-American hotel scion whose family counts the Clintons among its friends, was arrested at a Florida airport earlier this week for allegedly carrying drugs.

According to the TMZ website, the millionaire hotel owner was arrested on Tuesday at the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport after transportation security administration (TSA) officials found drugs hidden in his luggage as he was about to board a flight.

Vikram, who owns the Dream Downtown Hotel in New York, was released on Wednesday on a bond of about $56,000 (Rs 31 lakh), a spokesperson at the Broward sheriff’s office in Florida said.

He has been charged with offences that carry imprisonment of three years if found guilty.

The Sant Chatwal-led Hampshire Hotels and Resorts said the company had “no comment on the issue at this time”.

Sant Chatwal, the father of Vikram, is known for friends in high places, such as Bill and Hillary Clinton. The UPA government had run into controversy in 2010 when it decided to confer the Padma Bhushan on Chatwal Senior.

Vikram is also not short on celebrity friends — “trouble magnet” Lindsay Lohan is one.

A police report said Vikram, 41, had been charged with one count of trafficking of drugs and seven counts of possession of cocaine, heroin and other drugs.

The report said Vikram was stopped by TSA’s behaviour detection officers at Florida airport and a search of his carry-on bag revealed several different types of loose white pills that appeared to be controlled substances.

The officials also found a small piece of white plastic wrap in Vikram’s jacket pocket that contained a white powder substance, which turned out to be cocaine, the report claimed.

Vikram was then placed under arrest and searched by officials who found that he had hidden a bag in his pants that contained quantities of drugs, including heroin and marijuana.

He also possessed several pills, including sedatives, for which he did not have any prescription, the report claimed.

“The arrestee provided a statement to narcotics detectives wherein he admitted possessing and purchasing the controlled substances illegally,” officer Carmen Hunsinger said in the police report.

Vikram, who has acted in a few Indian movies and was married to socialite Priya Sachdev, has previously been admitted twice to rehabilitation facilities for alcohol addiction. The couple, whose wedding was attended by Bill Clinton, Lakshmi Mittal and Naomi Campbell in India, had divorced a few years ago.

According to New York Daily News, it was at Vikram’s Manhattan Dream Hotel that Lohan allegedly clipped a chef with her Porsche last September. She was charged with leaving the scene of the accident, but prosecutors rejected the case.