Bengaluru police arrested four men on charges of smuggling charas and ganja (forms of cannabis) from Nepal, following a recent raid in which Rs 27 lakh worth of the drugs were recovered.

Police have reportedly identified the prime accused as Ashok Bahadur (21), a security guard from Nepal. The other three arrested were identified as Bijay Singh (30) employee of a private firm, Nizamuddin (35), a cab driver and Avishek Singh, a software engineer (34).

“The main accused in the case is Ashok Bhahadur. He came to city in the guise of seeking work as a security guard. But while coming, he brought charas and ganja and contacted his associates over phone and sold the drugs to foreigners, software engineers and students,” a police official told Bangalore Mirror.

The arrests were made after police raided the residence of Avishek Singh in BTM Layout following a tip-off from an informant, police said.

MB Boralingaiah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) told BM that Singh, who was initially a customer, joined the racket to earn more money needed for his ailing mother’s treatment.

According to the police, the drug was transported from Nepal to Bengaluru via Delhi by Bahadur, who works as a security guard.

Police said that the drug would be covered with three layers of plastic material, to make it look similar to jowar, while crossing the border at Uttarakhand. After that he would travel on a bus to Delhi and distribute the drugs in the national capital.

From Delhi, Bahadur used to travel by train and reach Bengaluru.