Hyderabad: Special teams of the Prohibition and Excise Department carried out a series of raids across Hyderabad and adjoining areas, seizing ganja and illegally held defence liquor and arresting five persons.

Acting on a tip-off about ganja sales in Ambedkar Nagar, Jawahar Nagar and parts of Medchal-Malkajgiri district, the Excise Police swooped in and seized 1.345 kg of the contraband along with a two-wheeler. 

Three persons – Shaik Salman, 25, Chemangula Raghu, 24, and Maripelli Mahesh, 23 – were arrested and handed over to the Malkajgiri Excise Station for further investigation.

In a separate operation, officials seized 710 gram of ganja near Ashish College on Saket Road in the ECIL-Kapra area and arrested two persons, Sayyad Shakeel, 23, and Mohammed Fasiuddin, 25.

On the liquor front, the Hyderabad Enforcement Excise team confiscated 29 bottles of defence liquor during inspections near DRDO and Apollo Hospital. In another case, 20 bottles were seized from Jalapuram Balakrishna at Vinoba Nagar in the Malkajgiri area under the Ranga Reddy Excise Division.

Excise officials said special drives against narcotics and illegal liquor would continue across the region.