Seven people, including two minors, were held on Saturday for the possession of four quintals of cannabis in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund district, police said.
A case has been registered against the accused under relevant sections, the police said."The 400 kilograms of narcotic substance have been seized from their possession and a case has been registered under relevant sections of the Narcotics Act," Superintendent of Police Prafull Thakur said.
"All the accused are friends with each other. The mastermind of this smuggling gang was Santosh Daura who already has a case against him in Odisha for looting a Reliance truck with 12 other people. He was arrested in the pickup car with 300 kilograms of cannabis in possession. 50 kilograms each of cannabis was apprehended from two other SUVs," he added.
According to police, the cost of the recovered cannabis is estimated to be Rs 40 lakhs.
Thakur further informed that now Police has information about the 10 routes the smugglers used to follow to commute in three districts -- Gorakhpur, Chitrakonda, and Malkangiri.
( With inputs from ANI )