A woman and her son were taken into custody by the police after one quintal of ganja (dry cannabis) was recovered from their house in Bharatpur area of Bhubaneswar on Friday.
The accused were identified as Bhabanishankar Mohapatra (30) and his mother Mamata (52).
Acting on a tip-off, the Bharatpur police carried out a raid at the house in Bharatpur area and made the contraband recovery.
Police sources said that the mother-son duo was leading a syndicate of ganja smugglers. They were procuring the contraband from Kandhamal and supplying it to various parts of Odisha and outside the State. The son, who is an MCA pass out, was helping her mother in the illegal trade.
The duo has been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act while the market value of the seized drugs is estimated to be around Rs 5 lakh.
Officials privy to the investigation of the case said that the arrested are being questioned to ascertain the root of the ganja smuggling racket.
Further investigation into the case is underway.
Earlier in January, a team of Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Police's Crime Branch along with the Commissonerate Police had arrested three persons in Bhubaneswar and recovered more than 40 kilograms of Ganja from their possession.
Since 2022, the STF in the special drive against narcotic drugs has seized more than 44 Kg of brown sugar/heroin and more than 88 quintals of ganja/marijuana and arrested more than 110 drug dealers/peddlers in the State.