Wayanad: A team of Excise officials, headed by Kalpetta Range CI T Sherafudheen, arrested two persons in connection with the seizure of 11.3 kg of ganja from Pozhuthana near Vythiri in a late-night operation on Thursday.

The operation was carried out on a tip-off received by Sherafudheen. The team, which was in mufti, had been on alert at various positions around a house under construction at Pozhuthana. The duo was arrested when they were digging out the ganja that was buried under the kitchen floor.

The accused are Karatt Veettil Jamsheer Ali (35) of Pozhuthana and Soumya Bhavanam Veettil T S Suresh (27) of Alappuzha. The duo had been under the radar of the excise department for the last few days.

Both Jamsheer Ali and Suresh are part of a drug-pedalling racket operating in the district and both are convicted in several drug-related cases, sources said.

Jamsheer Ali was deported after being charged under the KAAPA (Kerala Anti-social Activities Prevention) Act. The accused sourced ganja from Andhra Pradesh and distributed the contraband in the district through sub-agents. Excise Preventive Officers K Azeez, P Krishnankutty, Civil Excise Officers V K Vaisakh, E B Aneesh and K Ajay were part of the operation.

Both accused were produced in the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalpetta and remanded to judicial custody.