Delhi: Over 7,800 kg of banned firecrackers seized so far; 32 held ahead of Diwali

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) Ahead of Diwali, the Delhi Police has seized over 7,800 kilograms of illegal fireworks in multiple operations across the city since September 1. To date, 32 individuals have been arrested, officials said on Thursday.

The drive, carried out by various police districts and units, including the crime branch and AATS teams, aligns with the Supreme Court's directions and the Delhi government's blanket ban on the sale, storage, and use of firecrackers to curb pollution during Diwali.

Police said the sustained enforcement effort has led to massive recoveries from residential areas, godown, and commercial units where the banned items were allegedly being repackaged and sold in violation of the ban.

According to police, the largest single recovery came on September 25, when a team from Rajouri Garden in west Delhi seized 3,580 kg of firecrackers from a house in Vishal Enclave. A family of three -- Sushil Kakkar, his wife Upasana, and their son Shivam -- was arrested for allegedly stocking and repackaging the material.

"The consignment had been sourced from Meerut, Gurugram, and Ghaziabad for resale in Delhi. The firecrackers were found stuffed in every corner of the house, including the kitchen, posing a major safety hazard," a police officer said.

Earlier, on September 16, police seized 225 kg of firecrackers from a rooftop room in Badarpur's Moladband area and arrested Dharamvir Singh, who had allegedly procured the stock from Palwal in Haryana.

In north Delhi's Vijay Nagar, two men -- Lalit Kumar Gulati and Mukul Wasan -- were held on September 27 with 164 kg of crackers transported from Gurugram.

Another major haul took place on October 2 in Bindapur's Matiala village, where a team recovered 693 kg of firecrackers from a premises operating under the guise of an ice cream unit. The accused, Dilbagh Singh, was arrested.

"The combined recovery from these operations stood at 4,662.4 kg, with 10 arrests," said the officer.

The police busted another racket in Mandoli, leading to the arrest of three people -- Bhagwati Prasad, his son Tarun Singhal, and supplier Rajiv Goel -- and seizure of 914 boxes of banned crackers.

The trio had allegedly been running a distribution chain between Meerut and Delhi. Police said the stock recovered from Goel's godown and nearby shop amounted to several hundred kilograms.

In another phase of the operation, the Crime Branch and district police units carried out raids in Dwarka, Rohini, Uttam Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Mukundpur and Shahdara, leading to the seizure of 1,645 kg of banned firecrackers and the arrest of six people. Police said the consignment was being procured from Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh and sold in Delhi's neighbourhood markets.

Following these raids, a separate series of operations in Shahdara between October 1 and 6 led to another 1,200 kg of firecrackers being seized and six arrests.

In a related case, the crime branch intercepted a tempo near Bamnoli Chowk on October 5, recovering 394 kg of fireworks from the vehicle and arresting the driver and two others.

In the latest round of operations this week, the crime branch seized 192 kg of illegal firecrackers from a godown in Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar and arrested Pawan Kumar, a resident of Himachal Pradesh.

Police said that Kumar had rented the godown to stock banned fireworks for distribution in Delhi to earn easy money.

Similarly, another raid by a team from the central district foiled a supply network operating from the Kamla Market area. Three men -- Ratandeep, Tushar, and Sahil, all residents of Rohini -- were arrested with 177.1 kg of banned firecrackers being transported in three cars.

Police said that teams will continue to conduct surprise checks and follow-up investigations to dismantle remaining networks involved in the illegal trade.

"Multiple teams have been formed to trace the source of the recovered consignments and prevent further circulation of banned material in Delhi," another senior police officer said.

So far, the combined raids since September have resulted in the seizure of 7,876.5 kilograms of banned firecrackers and the arrest of 32 people across various districts of the city. PTI BM BM MPL MPL