Lucknow, Nov 10 (IANS): Three members of a gang that was allegedly running a drug racket in Lucknow have been arrested in a joint operation by the Mahanagar police and the crime branch.

The arrested have been identified as Anwar, Purshottam and Atul Kumar. They were arrested from Sarvodaya Nagar on Tuesday.

The police also recovered 35.5 kg of drugs from their possession.

Station House Officer (SHO) Mahanagar, Ashish Dwivedi, said they were conducting a checking drive at Sarvodaya Nagar bridge when an SUV was intercepted.

"When we asked the driver to stop the car, the passengers ran away from the SUV," said the SHO.

The police chased them and nabbed them. During interrogation the trio confessed that they were hiding opium peels (a type of drug) in three plastic sacks in the car.

Dwivedi said that the weight of the recovered drugs was 35.5 kg.

All the three accused have been booked under NDPS Act, while the SUV was seized under MV Act.