Idukki, excise officers of this district were left in shock when a group of students accidentally entered their office and asked for a box of matches to light a beedi rolled with ganja. The incident took place on Monday at Adimali in High Range district where students of a aided school in Thrissur arrived as part of their school excursion with teachers. They entered the local excise office to collect the matchbox, thinking it was a workshop. Immediately, the excise sleuths caught the higher secondary students red-handed and seized banned substances like ganja, hashish oil and items to fill their contraband products. A complaint was also filed against two minor students found in possession of prohibited substances. After eating at a hotel, a group of students went out to smoke ganja beedi and wanted a box of matches to light it. A senior excise officer said he saw the back of the excise office here, mistook it for a workshop and asked for a box of matches. “When they suddenly saw the policemen, they sensed danger and ran away. But they were all arrested. When we carried out a check, banned substances were recovered,” he told PTI. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, against two students from whom the substances were seized. All students received counseling. “The rest of the students were sent back with their teachers. But, in the case of these two students, the parents were summoned and sent them back with them only,” he explained. According to authorities, drug abuse was rampant during school and college excursions in the state. “In this particular case, the students allegedly pooled money to buy the substance from some drug dealers,” he explained. The department has decided to take legal action against the students, he added.