Six people were arrested overnight as police stepped up checks for the use of firecrackers, and the lighting of Easter bonfires, police said on Sunday.

In addition to the six arrests, 143 firecrackers were seized in addition to offensive instruments and other objects found in their possession, while in some cases wood collected to start a fire was confiscated.

In Paphos, after receiving about firecrackers, at around 10pm on Saturday police located three people, two aged 15 and one aged 18, in whose possession a total of 131 firecrackers were found, while a knuckleduster was also found in the possession of the 18-year-old.

The three were arrested for possession of explosives, while the 18-year-old was also arrested for possession of an offensive instrument.

In Nicosia, police responded to incidents of lighting fires and the use of firecrackers, arresting two minors, aged 15 and 17 who they found pushing a green rubbish bin loaded with wooden pallets and two plastic chairs, which they reportedly stole from an adjacent building. Twelve firecrackers were also found in the possession of the 17-year-old.

In Larnaca, police responded to reports of a fire in Oroklini although the young people gathered there fled when police arrived.

But they did top a 29-year-old man, who was preparing to leave the scene in his car.

He was arrested for drug possession, carrying a knife and possession of offensive instruments, after two bags of white crystalline substance, a tobacco syringe with traces of white substance, a precision scale also with traces of white substance, a half-smoked handmade cigarette with industrialized tobacco mixed with green dry plant matter, were found in his car. Police also confiscated two knives, a bat with a wooden handle ending in wire, a scalpel, an iron cutting scissors, and a hood.