Kochi | The police have arrested the prime accused in the case related to the seizure of two kilograms of ganja and the subsequent arrest of five students during a raid at the men's hostel of Government Polytechnic College, Kalamassery, near here.

According to the police, Anuraj R, 21, a third-year mechanical engineering student at Kalamassery Polytechnic and a native of Karunagappally, Kollam, was taken into custody on Saturday night.

Anuraj, who had organised a large-scale collection on campus for the Holi celebration, used the collected money to procure ganja, the police said.

He handed over the funds to former students Ashiq and Shalik, who are currently in judicial custody in connection with the case, and facilitated the delivery of ganja to the campus, the police added.

The Kalamassery police arrested him following a detailed investigation based on statements from the former students.

Anuraj is a key link in a drug mafia network that supplied ganja and other narcotics to Polytechnic students in both bulk and retail, according to the police.

The police are now probing his financial transactions and connections with other drug cartels.

With this arrest, the number of persons arrested in the case has risen to six.

The police conducted the raid on Thursday night as part of a stringent crackdown on narcotics and arrested three students.

Two of them were released on station bail, while another student, Akash M, 21, a native of Kulathupuzha in Kollam, was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on Friday. The police recovered 1.909 kg of ganja from his room.

Police also seized 9.7 grams of ganja from the two students who were released on station bail—Adithyan, 20, a native of Haripad in Alappuzha, and Abhiraj R, 21, a native of Karunagappally in Kollam.

On Saturday, the police arrested Ashiq, 20, and Shalik, 21, both hailing from Aluva, who are former students of the institution and are suspected of supplying the contraband to the hostel.

The police also stated that the raid was conducted based on a tip-off about large quantities of ganja being stored on campus ahead of the Holi celebrations.

The search, which began on Thursday night, lasted nearly seven hours and concluded at 4 am on Friday, police officials said.

Thiruvananthapuram | The Kerala police on Saturday said as part of its special drive to crack down on individuals suspected of drug trafficking, 234 people were arrested, and varying quantities of several deadly narcotics, including MDMA, were seized.

The State Police Media Centre (SPMC) stated that on March 14, as part of the drive, D-Hunt, authorities inspected 2,362 individuals suspected of drug trafficking and arrested 234 of them.

The operation was carried out across the state to identify and take strict legal action against those involved in the storage and distribution of banned drugs.

Police registered 222 cases related to the possession of various prohibited substances, according to a statement issued by the SPMC. Additionally, authorities seized 0.0119 kg of MDMA, 6.171 kg of cannabis, and 167 cannabis 'beedis' from those arrested.

Operation D-Hunt is being jointly implemented by the Range-based NDPS Coordination Cell and District Police Chiefs under the leadership of State Anti-Narcotics Task Force Head and ADGP (Law and Order) Manoj Abraham, following the instructions of State Police Chief Dr Sheikh Darvesh Sahib, the statement said.

The SPMC also announced that a 24-hour Anti-Narcotics Control Room (9497927797) has been set up to receive information from the public regarding drug-related activities.

The details of individuals who contact this number will be kept confidential, it added.

Furthermore, the operation will continue in the coming days through sustained surveillance and the creation of a database of individuals regularly involved in drug-related activities and transactions.