Berhampur: Police have arrested 19 persons for illegal sale of firecrackers for Diwali and seized crackers worth more than Rs 20 lakh in the last one week.
According to Berhampur SP Sarvana Vivek M, all police stations in the city conducted raids against illegal firecracker sale and registered cases in the past one week. They have registered total 14 criminal cases and detained 19 persons. The crackers seized during the raids is worth around Rs 20 lakh, he added.
While 4 cases have been registered in Badabazaar police station, 2 in Gosainnuagaon, one in Sadar, 2 in Golanthara, 4 in Jarada and one in Digapahandi police station, the SP said.
Since the local administration has not issued permission to anybody to procure and sell firecrackers inside the city, some traders were doing the cracker business on the occasion of Diwali clandestinely, sources said.
While the police were enforcing checking on the occasion of Dhanteras in the city on Sunday, huge amount of illegal firecrackers were seized while being transported in vehicles, they added.
