Berhampur: As part of the drive to curb illegal firecracker business in the run-up to Diwali, the police raided a house and seized firecrackers worth more than Rs 5 lakh in Odisha’s Ganjam district.
According to sources, the police were informed about the firecrackers stocked illegally in a godown at Lane No-8 in Shiva Shakti Nagar of Lanjipalli under Baidyanathpur police limits in Berhampur city of the district. On the direction of Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M, a police team led by Lanjipalli outpost in-charge Gouri Jena conducted the raid on the house.
During the raid, the police team found a huge amount of firecrackers in the house. As two persons present in the house could not produce valid document about possession of the firecrackers, the police detained them and seized the goods.
The market value of the seized crackers was estimated to be more than Rs 5 lakh. The detained persons told the police that they had procured the firecrackers from different places of the state and outside.
They had neither licence for running the godown nor permission to purchase and sell the firecrackers. They had apparently stocked the crackers for sale during Diwali in the city, the sources said.
