The CID Q-branch made the biggest ganja bust of the year, on the road in Nagapattinam on Sunday. The contraband was reportedly being smuggled to Sri Lanka when the gang was busted.

According to sources in the Q-Branch, they were tipped off about the contraband movement. The marijuana is thought to have been grown in Andhra Pradhesh and was being taken to Vedaranyam, from where it would be smuggled into Sri Lanka. According to sources, the seized consignment of ganja weighed nearly 700 kgs and is valued at 1.5 crore.

The smugglers - three men who were posing to be tourists - were transporting it in a tourist vehicle. The van was stopped near Vadugur, at one of the several checkposts set up on the road. The driver claimed to have lost the way while taking tourists to Velankanni, but the cops grew suspicius when the 'tourists' turned out to be only three men.

An SUV vehicle, thought to have been guiding the van, has escaped. The suspects were first taken to the Q-branch office in Nagapattinam and then handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau.