18,000 Pounds of Fireworks Seized in N.Y. - Yikes!!

[Breeze54]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FIREWORKS_SEIZED?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=ENTERTAINMENT

18,000 Pounds of Fireworks Seized in N.Y.
May 25, 12:07 AM EDT

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, N.Y. (AP) --

Police officers who stopped a truck that was tailgating a fuel tanker on a highway
say they made a potentially explosive discovery - 18,000 pounds of fireworks.

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

The truck carrying the explosives was found to be dangerously overloaded
when it was pulled over Monday for a routine safety check, police said.

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

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

State law prohibits the sale or possession of fireworks without a permit.
The driver, who was with his adult son, faces multiple summonses for carrying
hazardous materials and driving an overweight truck.

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 fireball.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!!

[AndyTiedye]

1. 9 TONS of FIREWORKS and He's Tailgating a GAS TANKER Truck!?!?!

:wtf:

[regnaD kciN]

2. Yikes! Cherry Bombs of Mass Destruction!!!

Be afraid! Run! Hide! Support the President! Vote Republican!

:eyes:

(Would a terra alert for a fireworks-based attack be color-coded red, white, and blue? :shrug: )

[Kutjara]

3. The fireworks truckdriver narrowly missed an easy win...

...in the Darwin Awards.

http://www.darwinawards.com

[Breeze54]

8. Nice! .......

and subtle! ;)
:thumbsup:

[Faux pas]

4. Donning my tinfoil hat, makes me wonder what the fireworks

were really going to be used for? Great pic!

[tomreedtoon]

5. Give you a hint...ever see "V for Vendetta"?

So much for Homeland Security being able to protect us. "Gee, it's just a truck full of fireworks." "Oh, that's just fertilizer." "Officer Barbrady says it's okay."

[Breeze54]

7. but the cops DID catch it!! Kudo's to them and 'NITRO'! lol ... n/t

[Faux pas]

13. Never saw 'V for Vendetta'. But with the way things are now

fireworks shouldn't be allowed anywhere.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. 4th of July?

Just a guess.

Fireworks are illegal in NY, so the black market is very lucrative.

The funny thing growing up there was that the cops kids always had the best fireworks.

[Faux pas]

14. LOL doesn't fit with my tinfoil hat theory, thanks for the info though.

n/t

[ClintonTyree]

9. Illegal fireworks sales in New York are a huge business.

I sincerely doubt he had anything in mind other than making a tidy profit from their sale. Although fireworks are illegal in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland etc. have much looser laws and New Yorkers are forever traveling to those states to get their fireworks fix. I know, I'm one of them! ;) This guy went a little overboard though deserves everything the law throws at him. What an idiot! :silly:

[Breeze54]

10. Same here is Mass. but

18,000 lbs??? No way!!! And tail-gateing a fuel truck?
What a fucking idiot!!!

It's illegal here too but we go to NH and they have small "family packs"!
Sounds weird, doesn't it? ;)
It used to be legal until about 20 years ago! I used to have a blast!
Until some jerk allowed their kid to blow his hand off, then that was it! :grr:

"Oh well, deep subject."
;)

[Faux pas]

16. Good to see that greed does have a downside after all. n/t

[Orsino]

11. It would have been funnier and less scary if...

...one truck had carried vinegar, and the other baking soda.

[MsTryska]

12. my guess is he was on his way to chinatown

that's where we used to go to buy fireworks for the 4th.

[warrens]

15. That's the July 4 supply for about four blocks of Brooklyn

By next week every bodega in NYC will be knee deep in whatever illegal explosives you want. Now ifn I was a terraist....

[genieroze]

17. morons

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. Damn shame.

Celebrating independence just isn't the same without setting off some illegal fireworks.

[Irreverend IX]

19. If that truck had crashed and exploded...

I wonder if Bush would have pronounced it an Al Qaeda attack and declared martial law.