Nagram raid: 1,392-kg explosive material seized, 4 held
In the raid that started on Tuesday afternoon and continued till late night, a total 1,392 kg of explosive material, including 750 kg of finished and 642 kg of semi-finished firecrackers and manufacturing stock, was seized, with the Nagram police busting an illegal firecracker network. The action comes after the recent blast at a house in Behta area, Gudamba, where firecrackers stored illegally claimed four lives.
The big haul of illegal firecrackers in Nagram was sourced from Kanpur and Rae Bareli and transported to Lucknow through a carefully orchestrated plan to evade detection, police said on Wednesday.
In the raid that started on Tuesday afternoon and continued till late night, a total 1,392 kg of explosive material, including 750 kg of finished and 642 kg of semi-finished firecrackers and manufacturing stock, was seized, with the Nagram police busting an illegal firecracker network. The action comes after the recent blast at a house in Behta area, Gudamba, where firecrackers stored illegally claimed four lives.
“Acting on a tip-off, police intercepted an autorickshaw, allegedly carrying contraband, on the Nagram-Samesi road. During the search, numerous bags of gunpowder and raw material used in cracker manufacturing were recovered.
The accused admitted that these consignments were deliberately concealed inside luggage or objects and slipped among goods arriving via DCM consignments from Kanpur and Rae Bareli,” Mohanlalganj ACP Rajneesh Verma said.
“Once in Lucknow, the material was moved into smaller vehicles and distributed to homes where illegal firecrackers were being manufactured and stored,” he added.
Concealing explosives in luggage and transporting them across districts put residents and commuters at immense risk, a police officer said.
Following the arrest of autorickshaw driver Mohammad Rafiq alias Munna, police conducted raids at multiple locations named by him. Large quantities of finished and semi-finished crackers, gunpowder, and chemicals like sodium, sulphur, aluminium shavings, cotton bombs and sawdust were recovered from houses in the densely populated locality.
Three other accused arrested were identified as Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Salim and Ramzan Ali alias Adab Ali. “An FIR has been registered at the Nagram police station under sections 4 and 5 of the Explosives Act, 1908. Rafiq has a criminal record under IPC sections 498A, 323 and 504,” the ACP said.
