Bengaluru, 29 June

Seventeen people were arrested in separate cases, among them three foreign nationals and eight people from other states, after police seized narcotic substances worth Rs 25.23 crore from different parts of the City.

The searches were conducted in Subramanyanagar, Madiwala, Rajajinagar, Whitefield, Tilaknagar, Yeshwanthpur and Indiranagar police station limits, police said.

According to police, the accused confessed during interrogation that they had procured prohibited narcotic substances at low prices from unidentified suppliers based in foreign countries, other states and Karnataka, and sold them at higher prices to the public, including college students, to make illegal profits.

They also admitted to manufacturing tobacco products.

Among the items seized were 10kg and 306g of MDMA, 127kg and 302g of ganja, 3kg and 314g of hydro ganja, 300 e-cigarettes, 90 hookah flavour packs, 30 hookah pots, hookah stands and bowls, foreign cigarette packs, various tobacco products allegedly manufactured in violation of the COTPA Act, seven mobile phones, one car and six two-wheelers.

Police said the seized property was valued at Rs 12.85 crore, while the estimated market value of the narcotic substances alone was Rs 25.23 crore.