The Odisha police on Sunday arrested three alleged drug peddlers from Balasore district and seized 302 gram brown sugar, valued at over Rs 30 lakh, from their possession.
The three accused were apprehended during a special operation by police when the contraband transaction was in progress, Balasore Superintendent of Police, Jugal Kishore Kumar Banoth said.
Apart from brown sugar, over Rs 9.44 lakh cash, two motor-cycles and three mobile phones were seized from them, he said.
They were identified as Pitabash Rana (29) and Bhabani Prasad Swain (22) from Khurda and Sk Haidar Ali, a resident of Balasore.
The duo from Khurda had come to Balasore to collect the contraband from Ali, Banoth said.
An investigation is in progress and efforts are on to ascertain if others are involved in the racket, police said.
Earlier in June this year, three persons were arrested and over 1.6 kg of brown sugar was seized near Balasore under Sahadevkhunta police station area, a senior officer said.