Thane police has arrested three persons, including a director and an operations manager of Solapur factory of Avon Lifesciences Limited, in connection with the recovery of a major haul of ephedrine, pegged at Rs 2000 crore, earlier this month.

According to police, the arrests have led to unravelling of international drug mafia links of the accused. With the fresh arrests, the number of accused in police custody has risen to 8. While Punit Shringi, in-charge of operations, was arrested from suburban Virar last night, Manoj Jain (46), one of the directors of the company, and Harjit Singh Gill (42), a transporter, were caught today from suburban Mahim and Navi Mumbai, respectively.