A car was also seized from the accused's possession, police said. (Representational)
Police have seized 20 kg of mephedrone, a banned synthetic drug, worth Rs 20 crore and arrested five people in Pune district, an official said on Thursday.
It is suspected that the accused were dealing in drugs under the garb of pharmaceutical trade, said a senior police official.
The seizure was made near Shel Pimpalgaon village on Chakan-Shikrapur Road, 45 km from Pune, on Wednesday afternoon, he said.
Acting on a tip-off that five persons would arrive to sell the contraband, the police laid a trap in the area and caught them, said Krishna Prakash, Commissioner of Police, Pimpri Chinchwad.
"They were arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act," he said, adding that a car was also seized from the accused's possession.
The accused were identified as Chetan Dandwate, Anandgir Gosavi, Akshay Kale, Sanjivkumar Bansiraut and Tausif Taslim.
"Since all these accused are linked to the pharma trading business, we are investigating whether they were doing drug trade under that garb," said Mr Prakash.
"We are also probing from where they were procuring it and where it wasbeing manufactured and where were they distributing," the police commissioner added.