KANNUR: Excise has arrested the man who escaped in a car with ganja during a vehicle inspection. The arrested has been identified as Naseer PV (45), a native of Sivapuram in Thalassery. A total of 9.773 kg of ganja was seized from his vehicle. The incident took place when a vehicle inspection was being carried out on the Koottupuzha-Iritty national highway. The ganja was seized by Kannur excise enforcement and anti-narcotic special squad circle inspector team.

Meanwhile, the Varkala Excise arrested Ashokan (54) who was retailing ganja in small packets. The accused was arrested with 1.5 kg of ganja at Vadakkevayal junction during a search conducted at Navaikulam area at around 8 pm last night.

A team led by Varkala circle inspector Anil Kumar comprising preventive officer K Sudarshan, grade assistant excise inspectors Ratheesan Chettiar and Vijayakumar, grade preventive officers Libin and ArunMohan, civil excise officer Ratheesh MR and excise driver Ranju nabbed the accused. The accused was produced before the Varkala court and remanded.