NEW DELHI: Ahead of Diwali, the Delhi Police has seized more than 7,800 kg of banned firecrackers in a series of operations across the city since September 1, arresting 32 people so far, officials said on Thursday.
The crackdown, conducted by various police districts, the Crime Branch, and AATS teams, follows the Supreme Court’s directions and the Delhi government’s blanket ban on the sale, storage, and use of firecrackers to curb pollution during the festive season.
Police said the sustained drive has led to large recoveries from residential areas, godowns, and commercial premises where banned items were being repackaged and sold in violation of the ban.
The biggest single seizure took place on September 25, when the police recovered 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 sourced from Meerut, Gurugram and Ghaziabad. “The firecrackers were found stuffed in every corner of the house, including the kitchen, posing a major safety hazard,” a police officer said.
Other significant recoveries include 225 kg seized from Badarpur’s Moladband area on September 16, 164 kg from Vijay Nagar on September 27, and 693 kg from a Bindapur premises masquerading as an ice cream unit. In Mandoli, police arrested three men and recovered 914 boxes of banned crackers allegedly distributed between Meerut and Delhi.
Subsequent raids across Dwarka, Rohini, Uttam Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Mukundpur, and Shahdara led to the seizure of another 1,645 kg and six arrests. Separate operations in Shahdara between October 1 and 6 yielded 1,200 kg more.