Delhi: North-East District Police arrested five people on November 6 in five separate operations against the alleged illegal sale and storage of firecrackers, recovering about 91.910 kg in total across the Jyoti Nagar, Shastri Park and Dayalpur police station areas, ANI reported.

Source: ANI

Three of the arrests were made in the Jyoti Nagar area, where police recovered 61 kg in total. Sunay Kumar, 42, was held near Hanuman Phatak in Ashok Nagar Market with 26 kg of firecrackers, including Sky Shots, Bullet Bombs and Chakkaris. Police said QR-code verification showed the stock was not certified green crackers and Kumar could not produce a valid licence.

In the other Jyoti Nagar operations, Atul, 20, was held on Hanuman Mandir Fatak Road in Ashok Nagar with 13 kg, and Khem Chand, 54, was held near Mangal Bazar in Amar Colony with 22 kg, according to the police account published by ANI.

At Shastri Park, a police team acting on a tip-off arrested Awadhesh, 50, near GBSS School on Durga Mandir Road and recovered two plastic sacks containing 20.360 kg. At Dayalpur, Yasin, 40, was detained on Main Karawal Nagar Road near a temple in Nehru Vihar, allegedly while selling firecrackers without a licence, with 10.550 kg recovered, IANS reported via Nation Press.

Source: IANS via Nation Press

Separate FIRs have been registered in all five cases. Police said none of the five had a previous criminal record found on verification, and further investigation into the supply chain is under way. All the allegations are police allegations at this stage and the cases remain under investigation.

Delhi restricts the sale and use of non-certified firecrackers because of severe winter air pollution. The crackdown came ahead of Diwali, when police said enforcement against illegal sale and storage is stepped up.