Ahead of the Diwali festivities, the Delhi Police have seized over 1,600 kg of banned firecrackers from the Sabzi Mandi area, the police said on Tuesday.

The illegal stash of fire crackers was stored by two men, who have been arrested by police.

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In view of the ban on fire crackers in the national capital, the duo who worked as toy vendors and masons, had plans to sell the stash in small quantities at high prices to other cracker vendors operating secretly.

They used to store the firecrackers at their rented accommodation in Sabzi Mandi area and supply them in Sadar Bazar, the police said. They procured the large quantity from Farukhabad in Uttar Pradesh and smuggled the fire crackers in to the national capital.

Two accused have been identified as Khurshid and Mohammad vakil, both hailing from Bihar. According to the police, Khurshid is a habitual criminal who was earlier booked for the same crime of selling banned firecrackers with the help of his associates for making easy money.

Notably, there is a ban in force in Delhi on the manufacturing, storage, sale and use of all kinds of fire crackers as part of the anti- pollution plan.

According to the Delhi government, it was important to avoid use of crackers due to the level of pollution, especially during the winters and around Diwali festivites.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had also rejected a plea here seeking manufacturing of crackers using barium.