Sky lanterns that languidly soar into the night sky without any of the noisy fuss of a firecracker have been seized from some shops and at least one house in Baguiati since police issued a notification banning its use within a 10km radius of the airport.

Teams from Rajarhat and Baguiati police stations on Friday raided several shops in the areas under their jurisdiction and seized some sky lanterns along with other banned firecrackers.

The largest haul was at Ashwininagar in Baguiati, where the police found around 1,400 sky lanterns in the house of a relative of a Trinamul Congress councillor. The lanterns were part of a 125kg “stockpile” of banned fireworks, an officer said.

“Our team had raided the house based on specific information,” Amit Javalgi, the deputy commissioner (headquarters) of Bidhannagar City Police, said.

Apart from sky lanterns, outdoor laser lights have been banned within 10km of the airport on grounds of their being an aviation hazard. The notification classifies sky lanterns (phanush), a traditional feature of Diwali in this part of the world, as a fire hazard.

Flying lanterns can cause catastrophic accidents if aircraft engines suck them in, according to the notification. Difficulties faced by pilots of aircraft preparing to land at the airport have been cited as the reason for clamping the ban on laser lights.

“Sky lanterns are also a threat to the safety of aircraft. We have to make people understand that releasing them near the airport is not allowed,” Javalgi said.

In Rajarhat, the police seized 22 sky lanterns on Friday from a makeshift fireworks stall.

A resident of Rabindrapalli in Baguiati was arrested after 15kg of banned crackers were found in his shop. He is out on bail.

The banned firecrackers in the seized lot include 792 chocolate bombs, 410 dodomas, 62 packets of kali patakas and 46 firecrackers that burst twice each, first on the ground and again after shooting into the sky.

Javalgi said programmes were being held to raise awareness simultaneously with raids on firecracker stalls across Baguiati, Rajarhat and Narayanpur. The inspectors-in-charge of six police stations under the Airport division of the police commissionerate have been asked to spread the word in public places and housing complexes.

The notification banning sky lanterns and laser lights was issued after the district administration of North 24-Parganas received a letter from the general manager of air traffic management in Calcutta about sky lanterns posing a threat to aviation safety.

The letter mentioned the use of powerful laser lights outdoors and how they affect pilots of aircraft landing at or taking off from the airport. Laser lights are a bigger problem when planes have to land at the southern end of the runway during winter to avoid tailwinds from the north.