Five persons, including three students and one person from Tamil Nadu, were arrested by the Cheedikada SI G. Appa Rao and his team for allegedly transporting 40 kg dry ganja, at Konam in Cheedikada mandal on Thursday.
The police seized Rs.22,000 in cash and four mobile phones from the accused.
They were identified as K.V. Murugesan (55) of Tamil Nadu, B Kamaraju (38) and students P. Rambabu (25), J Eliya (23) of Pedabayalu mandal and Jalli Sreenu (23) of G Madugula mandal.
Murugesan had lured the students for procuring and smuggling the ganja.
The gang members procured the contraband from parts of Paderu in the Agency area. They reached Konam along with the stock through the forest to escape the attention of the police.
On a tip-off, the police conducted a raid and arrested the accused, according to the SI.