The Illegal Fireworks Task Force, operated under the state Department of Law Enforcement, seized about 17 tons of illegal fireworks at Honolulu Harbor on Wednesday from a shipping container that falsely declared its contents as “other items,” the DLE announced in a news release.

Wednesday’s seizure was the task force’s largest since its inception in July, and comes after a similar shipment seizure of 16 tons of illegal aerial fireworks last week, bringing the task force’s total collection of illegal fireworks to nearly 35 tons.

The task force issued a search warrant for the shipping container, resulting in the seizure of illegal aerials and a variety of other illegal fireworks. It is likely that the seizure prevented the fireworks from entering the black market, as the fireworks were not in consumer fireworks packaging and were packaged in amounts that exceeded what any single package can contain under state law.

DLE Director Jordan Lowe said the seized shipment, like last week’s, was shipped from the U.S. mainland. An investigation into both shipments is ongoing.

“The Illegal Fireworks Task Force is committed to interdicting fireworks wherever and whenever we can locate them,” Lowe said in a news release Wednesday. “We are currently investigating these illegal shipments and believe that additional seizures of illegal fireworks may be imminent.”

The Illegal Fireworks Task Force was created by a bill signed by Gov. Josh Green in June. It is coordinated by the DLE, and comprises state narcotics agents, deputy sheriffs, county police officers, the Department of the Attorney General and federal agencies including Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Serv­ice, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

In addition to its seizures of illegal fireworks shipments via ship cargo, the task force also has seized fireworks shipped via air cargo. The task force also monitors shipments made via postal mail and common carriers. A fireworks amnesty day on Dec. 17 also invited the public to turn in illegal and unwanted fireworks, no questions asked, and collected 515 additional pounds of illegal fireworks.

Since 2011, an islandwide partial ban on fireworks, including aerials, sparklers, fountains and other consumer fireworks, has been in place on Oahu. Permits are required to buy and use firecrackers on New Year’s Eve. The sale period for permits ended Tuesday, and firecrackers are now on sale at licensed retailers. People can buy up to 5,000 firecrackers per permit.

As New Year’s Eve approaches, the DLE also announced a tip line for the public to provide information about illegal fireworks traffickers and dealers anonymously. The tip line is active now and will remain active year-round. Individuals with information about people selling or trafficking illegal fireworks statewide can call 808-517-2182. To report users of illegal fireworks, people should call 911.

The DLE also announced that Department of Public Safety deputy sheriffs will assist Honolulu Police Department personnel with patrolling the H-1 freeway in the Waipahu area on New Year’s Eve to deter the public from stopping along the freeway to watch illegal aerial fireworks being set off.

The task force will continue its pursuit of illegal fireworks and people who traffic them. Lowe said that the task force will probably see more seizures “probably early into the (new) year.”