In a major breakthrough, the police here on Wednesday seized 52.5 kg of ganja worth about ₹ 10 lakh that was being illegally transported to Karwar and Goa.

Commissioner of Police M.N. Nagaraj told presspersons that the police, based on a tip-off, searched a vehicle near Kallapur Layout here and seized the contraband.

The police also seized the vehicle, a cellphone and arrested driver Siddaram alias Sunil Gunde, a resident of Tripuranath village near Basavakalyan in Bidar district, he said.

Mr. Nagaraj said that the driver confessed that the ganja belonging to Vikram Rathod and S.B. Mudda of Bhalki in Bidar district was being taken to Karwar and Goa. A case has been registered in the Ashok Nagar Police Station and Inspector J.C. Hanchinal is investigating.

The police have been striving to put an end to ganja racket in the city and it is for the first time that they have seized ganja in such a huge quantity. This apart, the police registered two cases — one each in Dharwad and Old Hubballi — related to illegal sale of ganja on Tuesday, he added.

To a query, he said that the seized ganja was not meant for sale in the city. There were clues that ganja was being brought to Bidar from Odisha and the Bidar Police had passed on information about it. The police team that cracked the case has been awarded with a cash prize of ₹ 5,000, Mr. Nagaraj said.