Chennai, Aug 1 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu Police on Tuesday commenced a crackdown on people associated with a major drug racket in Nagapattinam.

On Monday, the Nagapattinam police had arrested six people while they were trying to smuggle 300 kg of marijuana to Sri Lanka. They have been remanded in judicial custody.

The police are now on the lookout for the accomplices of those who were arrested.

Sources in Nagapattinam police told IANS that raids are being conducted in the residential premises of people who are alleged to have been associated with the drug haul.

As part of the racket, the narcotics were transported from the border areas of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to Nagapattinam

The accused were trying to smuggle it to the island nation through the sea route.

A special team of the police received an intelligence tip-off and based on this, the vehicle carrying the drugs was intercepted.

The arrested persons are identified as, V. Ravi (42) of Agasthiyampali, M. Lakshmanan (43) of Kodiyakkadu, M. Ravi (28) and K. Vedhamani (32) from Thethakudi; M. Kumar (41) of Kunnam, Peramballur district; and J. Mayakrishnan (29) of Madurai.

The police have registered a case against the above six persons under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.