Five persons were arrested on National Highway 57 passing through the Town area of the district headquarters on Tuesday with Afghanistan-made brown sugar worth Rs 2.4 crore.

Acting on a tip-off, a five-member team, led by Araria superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande, intercepted an SUV near a petrol pump along the highway and seized 440gm brown sugar. Lande said: “Acting on a tip-off, we intercepted the SUV (BR34P1901) at 11am on Tuesday on NH-57. We seized bro-wn sugar worth Rs 2.4 crore, a vehicle, two foreign-made pistols and five cartridges.”

Seven persons were in the vehicle but only five could be arrested. Two criminals managed to escape from the spot. Two of the accused have been identified as Vikas Kumar, a resident of Lohiya Nagar of Begusarai, Birbal Kumar, a resident of Tikkapatti village of Purnea. The others — Mohammad Izahar, Mohammad Dularchand and Ajay Kumar — are residents of Khagaria.