Five Columbia University students — including a member of the student council — were arrested on campus early on Tuesday and charged with running a ring that sold drugs to students at fraternity houses and in residence halls, the police said.

The arrests followed an undercover investigation — called Operation Ivy League by investigators — in which officers had made nearly $11,000 in drug purchases from the students since July, the police said.

During that time, the officers bought cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, Adderall and LSD, which the students applied to Altoids mints and SweetTarts candy, according to the police.

Police identified the students under arrest as Chris Coles, Harrison David, Adam Klein, Jose Stephan Perez and Michael Wymbs. They were were charged with a variety of drug offenses. New York City’s special narcotics prosecutor, Bridget G. Brennan, and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly announced the charges on Tuesday.

At least two of the students appeared to be involved in established academic activities at the school, according to Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman. One of the arrested students, a senior, is a member of the Columbia University student council, he said. Another, a sophomore, was the salutatorian of his high school and is currently enrolled in School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The police said a majority of sales took place in the common areas and bedrooms of three fraternities: Alpha Epsilon Pi, Pi Kappa Alpha and Psi Upsilon. Two students also sold drugs from their rooms at the Intercultural House and East Campus Housing, the police said.

Three people who the police said were the students’ suppliers have also been arrested: Miron Sarzynski, and his girlfriend, Megan Asper, who were arrested Oct. 27 in Mr. Sarzynski’s East Village apartment, and Roberto Lagares, who was arrested in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Sunday. The three were charged with selling drugs. Mr. Sarzynski also faces kidnapping charges that say he tried to hire an undercover officer to abduct a rival drug dealer at gunpoint.

“The undercover officer in the case was so intimidating to Mr. Sarzynski that he asked the undercover to help him kidnap and torture rival cocaine sellers,” Mr. Browne said. “If a ransom wasn’t paid, Sarzynski wanted the rivals killed.”