CHENNAI: In a shocking incident, the city police arrested a five-member gang that was allegedly distributing drugs to school children in Jafferkhanpet on Monday, as reported by Daily Thanthi.

The five persons were identified as Kalitheerthaperumal, Vishnu, Ganesan. Vikram and Sanjay, who hail from the same neighborhood.

Based on a tip-off that some miscreants were selling drugs in the form of pills and injections to students outside a school located in Jafferkhanpet in MGR Nagar, a special police team set up surveillance and kept watch on Monday.

When the police team noticed a group of five men sitting inside an autorickshaw and behaving in a suspicious manner, they immediately apprehended them and searched the vehicle.

"We found 375 syringes filled with drugs and 60 narcotic pills inside the auto. All five accused have been arrested," police said.

Enquiries revealed that one of the accused, Kalitheerthaperumal, who owns a bakery in Adambakkam, had recently gone through a breakup and took to drugs. "He was getting the drugs in bulk from a dealer in Andhra Pradesh and diluting the pills and loading them into syringes and selling it to school students," police said.