CHENNAI: As part of their continuous drive against synthetic drugs, the Anti-narcotics intelligence unit (ANIU) of the city police on Sunday arrested five youngsters near Anna Salai for alleged possession of methamphetamine.

On Thursday and Friday, the ANIU had arrested 14 persons for methamphetamine possession in different parts of the city.

In the latest incident, the ANIU team apprehended five persons near the Whites Road-Smith Road junction off Anna Salai on Sunday based on a tip off, and seized 23 grams of methamphetamine, 5.3 grams of OG Ganja, 2.6 grams MDMA tablets and Rs 1.67 lakh cash from them.

The arrested persons were identified as R Vigneshwaran (24) of Velachery, S Balachandran (28) of Taramani, S Yuvaraj (25) of Kolathur, J Suhail (24) of Perambur, and M Praveen (31) of Ambattur.

All five of them were handed over to the Anna Salai police station. The police officials there produced them before a magistrate and remanded them in judicial custody.

On Friday, too, five persons, including a woman, were arrested in Anna Salai police limits for meth possession near Peters Road flyover. Probe revealed that the accused had sourced the synthetic drug from Bengaluru and sold it in the city.