Varanasi: Following Thursday evening’s explosion in a house due to illegal manufacturing of fireworks, cops in Kotwali, Cantt and Lohta areas made huge recoveries of illegal stocks of fireworks by early Saturday morning.ACP (Kotwali) Vijay Pratap Singh said on Saturday that 120 quintals of fireworks were found in a warehouse owned by a dry fruit wholesaler in Gola Deenanath, one of the largest spice and dry fruit trading hubs after Hapur and Kanpur, located in a narrow, densely populated lane.He said on receiving specific inputs that a person had been storing and supplying material used for making crackers to small and medium manufacturers, a team of Kotwali police on Friday evening launched a search. Later, ACP and other senior officials also joined the police team. Police said sulphur, copper sulphate, charcoal, aluminium powder, fuse material and other chemicals linked to cracker production were found. The count crossed 100 quintals by late night, and when the search ended, the volume of recovery crossed 120 quintals. Officials assessed documents, source of procurement and the supply chain.In Cantt area, a joint team of police and crime branch raided a house in Kunj Vihar Colony and seized 30 quintals of finished crackers. The stock belonged to Rahul Gupta of Varuna Garden, who could not produce any valid licence for storage, said ACP Cantt Pragya Pathak.Lohta police also made another recovery during checking in view of the festive season. Acting on information, sub-inspector Rituraj Singh, in-charge of Kasba Lohta outpost, raided near Faizul madrassa in Alawal village and detained Sahabuddin (64). Police said 5.590 kg of illegal crackers and gunpowder meant for sale was recovered. A case was lodged at Lohta police station under Sections of BNS and Explosives Act.Earlier, on Thursday evening, illegally stocked fireworks manufacturing material by one Raju Khan had exploded and his house was blown up. His wife, son and daughter suffered grave injuries, while Khan, his mother and his other son had managed to escape. Khan was later arrested after suffering a bullet injury in the leg on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. After the same incident, police launched a massive drive across the district to put a check on illegal trading and stocking of the fireworks and manufacturing material.
