Illegal Fireworks Unit Explosion Spurs Police Searches and Unearths More Explosives

In the Mojpole-Paschimpara hamlet of Duttapukur in North 24-Parganas, where an explosion at an illegal fireworks unit killed at least nine lives on Sunday, more explosives and firecrackers are spilling out of closets.

Tuesday marked the beginning of police searches at temporary storage facilities housing pyrotechnics.

The former illegal firecracker team of Jerat Sheikh and Keramat Sheikh had first rented a room at Samsur Sheikh's house to store the goods. The explosion happened on Sunday at Samsur's home. The two had to rent at least three additional rooms in the hamlet to store the completed goods since the illegal operation had been creating fireworks in big quantities, according to a police officer in Duttapukur.

The police searched the rooms being used to store the firecrackers on Tuesday after receiving a tip.

A senior officer of the Duttapukur police station claimed, "We recovered three tons of firecrackers stockpiled in three large rooms that served as makeshift warehouses."

The bomb squad removed the seized goods from the village so they could be defused. A crew from the fire department went to the area earlier on Monday and utilized water to disarm a sizable stash of explosives that was kept in one of the homes in Mojpole-Paschimpara village.

Before the explosion, a villager said that Jerat and Keramat's helpers would sneak completed goods out of the temporary warehouses in trucks carrying vegetables.

Abdul Majid Mandal, a villager, said: "Usually they transported completed goods at night in trucks hauling vegetables. It is hard to imagine that cops were unaware of it.

The police, despite the frequent protestations of the Mojpole-Paschimpara villagers over the previous several months, "remained mute spectators" to the unlawful acts, which angered the villagers.

In Mojpole-Paschimpara hamlet, housewife Bachhadevi Mahato stated: "Such hoarding started in the area a few months ago. We reported it to the police out of fear, but nothing happened. Police operations didn't start until after Sunday's explosion, which left nine people dead and ruined a lot of innocent neighbors' property.

Cops seized packages of explosives and partially completed objects concealed beneath sacks of animal feed during the Tuesday searches at the improvised stockyards.

During the raids, it was obvious how the people felt about the police.

We told the police about the stockpile in the hamlet, but we guarded our houses out of concern that thugs working with the police may move the fireworks to our residences to give the criminals a pass.

"We don't trust the cops. We had alerted the police, but they previously awarded owners of properties where explosives were kept a clean bill of health. The cops did not bother to inspect them since they were concealed under sacks of animal feed. So, today, we stood watch until the fireworks and explosives were removed," said Mandal.

Bhaskar Mukherjee, the superintendent of police in Barasat, said on Tuesday: "We are actively investigating the whole situation. Legal action will be taken against the people in question if any police failures are discovered. There will be no exceptions.