With Diwali upcoming in a few days, the Gurugram police along with chief minister’s flying squad and crime branch have geared up for crackdown on smuggling, illegal sale and storage of prohibited crackers in the city, officials said on Saturday.
Senior officials said the vehicle checking has been intensified at all the major entry and exit points of the city along with those which pass through rural areas to curb smuggling of cracker consignments.
As per officials, multiple teams have been formed under the monitoring of assistant commissioners of police (ACPs) of concerned areas to check shops, godowns, houses and empty residences to seize any illegal storage of crackers.
Till now, illegal crackers weighing more than 230 kilograms in Gurugram and 510 kilograms in Faridabad have been seized.
Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said that patrol teams and station house officers of police stations are also carrying out rigorous inspection of markets to crackdown on any illegal or clandestine sales of crackers.
“Shop owners in market areas are continuously being made aware and being warned about the legal consequences of selling prohibited category crackers,” he said.
Turan said that along with crackdown on crackers, patrol has been intensified in market areas and police deployment have also been increased for ensuring safety and security of market goers.
Officials said that Sohna, Manesar, Pataudi, Farrukhnagar, pockets of Old Gurugram are the vulnerable areas where the possibility is highest for storage and sales of illegal crackers as they will sell at a higher rate with sellers gaining huge profits in just a few days.
“Patrol teams and beat constables have been asked to collect information regarding any suspicious activities related to crackers,” a senior official said.
Officials said on the basis of one such information, police teams raided a house in a residential area of Arjun Nagar in Sector 8 on October 7 and seized 231 kilograms of banned crackers stored for sale prior to Diwali.
Officials said Naman Madan, 28, the accused who had procured the consignment for sale, was also arrested.
Turan said that this the sole and the biggest consignment of crackers seized till now this year in Gurugram.
Meanwhile in Faridabad, more than 510 kilograms of firecrackers and raw materials were seized in the last two months.
Yashpal Yadav, Faridabad police public relations officer, said teams formed for crackdown unearthed an illegal fire cracker manufacturing factory at Nawada village in Sector 49 on August 17. “300kgs of paper shots, acid, chemicals and other raw materials were seized and a suspect running the unit was arrested following a raid by the crime branch,” he said.
On September 28, another crime branch team arrested a suspect after recovering 210kgs of crackers illegally stored in a house in Bhim Sain colony, Faridabad. “We are continuously carrying out raids and inspections of all kinds of markets to stop the sales or storage,” he added.