Kozhikode(Kerala) | A 39-year-old man was arrested from the Kozhikode beach area while he was sleeping on a mat with over 300 grams of cannabis allegedly spread on a newspaper nearby for drying it, police said on Friday.

Information about the man sleeping on the beach with the drugs near him was conveyed to the police by some persons walking there in the morning.

Visuals of the man sleeping with the ganja lying beside him were also aired on TV channels.

When the police arrived at the scene, the man tried to escape, but was caught, an officer of Vellayil police station said.

The man was identified as Muhammed Rafi and 372 grams of cannabis was seized from his possession, the officer said.

Thereafter, he was booked under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Juvenile Justice Act as he was in possession of the drugs near a school area and the police suspected he was going to sell the cannabis to students, according to the FIR.

Police said that the man claimed the drugs did not belong to him.