Two tractor-trailer loads of illegal fireworks were seized in a bust on Staten Island, police said yesterday.
Cops arrested two men with 70 cases of explosives – worth an estimated $20,000 on the street. They called it the largest seizure so far this holiday season.
Armed with a search warrant, members of the Joint FDNY-NYPD Fireworks Interdiction Team grabbed Richard Centra and Ronald R. Dicks at midnight Friday. They seized the cache of fireworks from a rear yard of a parking lot at 34-10 Richmond Terrace.
Among the fireworks seized were boxes of bandolier belts, rockets, and “cakes” – fireworks that shoot into the sky and emit a loud explosion accompanied by starburst patterns of color.
Neither suspect could be reached for comment.
Centra, 39, of 79th Street, Brooklyn, and Dicks, of North Goethals Road in Staten Island, were charged with unlawfully dealing in fireworks, a misdemeanor punishable by up to three months in jail.
Anyone with information about the illegal sale, delivery, or storage of illegal explosives or fireworks is urged to contact a confidential fireworks hot line: 1-800-FIRE-TIPS.