18,000 Pounds of Fireworks Seized in NY

GreatBallsofFireworks

18,000 pounds of fireworks seized from Long Island highway truck



May 24, 2006, 10:16 PM EDT

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, N.Y. (AP) _ Police officers who stopped a rented truck that was tailgating a fuel tanker on a highway say they made a potentially explosive discovery _ 18,000 pounds of fireworks, enough to destroy property up to five blocks away.

"It would have devastated a quarter-mile radius if they had gone off simultaneously," Suffolk County Police Department spokesman Robert Boden said Wednesday.

The seizure was the largest in the county's history, he said. State law prohibits the sale or possession of fireworks without a permit.

To demonstrate how powerful 18,000 pounds of fireworks could be, police exploded about 25 pounds of the sky rockets, Roman candles and other fireworks inside a car at the department's firearms range in Westhampton. The car was destroyed in a massive ball of fire.

The truck carrying the explosives was found to be dangerously overloaded when it was pulled over on Sunrise Highway on Monday for a routine safety check, said police, who called it a disaster waiting to happen.

A police dog, Nitro, a German shepherd added to the department's anti-terrorism efforts after Sept. 11, 2001, sniffed out the fireworks during the stop.

The driver of the truck, whose manifest said it was carrying paper goods, had brought the fireworks up from Maryland for illegal resale, police Commissioner Richard Dormer said.

The driver, who was with his adult son, faces multiple summonses for carrying hazardous materials and driving an overweight truck, police said.

Long Island is home to the famed Fireworks by Grucci company, which was struck by tragedy in 1983, when an explosion rocked its Bellport headquarters, killing two people. The company has produced major fireworks programs all over the United States, including for presidential inaugurations and the Statue of Liberty's centennial.

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

that sucks. but id like to know where he got them from maryland, cause thats where i live and cant find anything good.

I'm as patriotic about the Fourth of July as the next guy, but I didnâ??t post the story because I thought that the bust was an injustice. These jokers were placing an entire quarter mile area in extreme jeopardy by tailgating an oil tanker, which is bad enough - but with many tons of hazardous fireworks in the truck!

Anyway, have a happy and safe Fourth of July this year. :thumbsup:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by yoda

that sucks. but id like to know where he got them from maryland, cause thats where i live and cant find anything good.

---

Here sparklers are illegal, yet they sell them at the Wal-Mart by my house. If we want good shit we drive over the border to Ohio to Phantom Fireworks...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pabloescobar209

Here sparklers are illegal, yet they sell them at the Wal-Mart by my house. If we want good shit we drive over the border to Ohio to Phantom Fireworks...

---

Hang on hang on... lemme get this straight...

Alcohol is legal. Cigarettes are legal. Sparklers are ILLegal? :confused:

I have close relatives in the firecracker biz,,,they run fireworks all the time,,,it's all family biz related and NYC runs are common...

Really can't blame my family for a stupid driver...

On the 4th they have hundreds of U hauls filled,but also have explosive signs on the trucks,firecracker trade is all underground and illegal here so they really can't mark the truck as such... I shot firework shows and sold many of sparklers in my day,I always respected their deadly effects :D

fireworks are illeagle here too but so is weed so i figured what the hell.now my top drawer is full of fireworks:thumbsup:

Police are always seizing something, they need to backt he fuck off before they get shot :D.