Excise officials seized 267 kg of ganja at the Kumily check-post on Tuesday night and arrested three persons, including two from Tamil Nadu.
The narcotic was hidden in a cabin near the driver's seat in a mini-lorry, said an official of the team that checked the vehicle. Though the driver told them that he was going to Kottayam to collect jackfruit, the driver's cabin was checked.
It was found that a separate box had been made near the driver's seat. The narcotic was found packed in polythene bags.
Excise Deputy Commissioner T.V. Muralikumar said this was a major haul in recent times after 133 kg of ganja was seized at Adimaly in 2009.
Those arrested are Tamil Nadu residents Churulivel, 35, Subramanian, 35, and Rajakkad resident Basil Joseph, 25. The arrested told the officials that they were only carriers and the consignment was meant for a person in Kottayam.
The officials suspect them to have connections with some agents in Nedumkandam and Panickankudy in Idukki district. They said the details would be known only on interrogation of the arrested and the process had been completed for producing them at a special court which handled narcotics cases, in Thodupuzha.
It is doubted that the ganja reached Tamil Nadu from the Naxal-belt of north India and are being carried to various destinations through agents.
The seizure was made by a team led by Excise Inspector K.G. Joseph Jerson and preventive officer J.S.Prasanth.
