Police seized around 282 kg of firecrackers stored in 18 sacks from a locked rented room at a house in Chaini Ka Purwa village in Nawabganj area late Saturday night, officials said.
A case has been registered against temporary fireworks licence holder Ansar Ahmed alias Nate and the house owner, Jitendra Kumar Patel, he added.
Nawabganj SHO Pankaj Awasthi said the firecrackers had been stored in an unsafe manner and in violation of prescribed rules.
A police team reached the spot and found the room locked. Police called Patel and Ahmed to the spot but neither was available. In the presence of a witness, Raju Patel, they broke open the lock and searched the room. Samples were taken from each sack and sealed separately for further action. Police also informed the fire services department and requested necessary action to neutralise the firecrackers stored in the room. Further investigation and legal action against Ahmed and Patel are underway.
Lal Gopalganj outpost in-charge sub-inspector Ajay Kumar Singh and police personnel were patrolling the area on September 5 when they received information that a large quantity of firecrackers had been stored in a rented room in Patel’s house along the main road in Chaini Ka Purwa, according to the FIR. Police said they found 18 plastic-sealed sacks containing small and large cylindrical paper firecrackers, each fitted with a fuse carrying explosive material. The total weight of the firecrackers was found to be 282 kg. Storing firecrackers in such an unsafe manner constitutes an offence under Section 288 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 5 and 9(B) of the Explosives Act, according to police.
Local residents told the police that Ansar Ahmed was a temporary licence holder for fireworks sales and had sold firecrackers during Diwali in the past.
As a precaution, water was arranged inside and outside the room before the sacks were opened and weighed individually on an electronic weighing machine.
