Wichita ? What started as a drug investigation turned into a job for the Wichita Police Department’s bomb squad after officers turned up a box full of commercial fireworks – some even larger than those used for the grand finale of the annual Wichita River Festival.

Police Capt. Joe Dessenberger said the fireworks were loaded and ready to be discharged when they were discovered Monday night in a garage. Some of the shells were 5 inches in diameter, he said. Others were linked to provide multiple bursts.

All of the items were larger than those that can be bought at a fireworks stand, he said, and a commercial license would have been required to possess them.

“Typically, when we recover something, we’ll recover one or two” items, Dessenberger said. “But to have the quantity that we’ve got here, I guess you could consider it out of the ordinary.

“I’m sure there’s a market for these things,” he said. “They’re not cheap.”

Dessenberger said the search began after someone who had been awarded the house in a custody dispute found what appeared to be drugs.

During the search, he said, police found about two pounds of cocaine, an ounce of heroin and more than 10 pounds of marijuana, he said. Dessenberger estimated the drugs’ street value at more than $52,000.

The fireworks were detonated Tuesday at the department’s bomb range. No arrests have been made, but the investigation was continuing Tuesday night.

“Everyone thinks fireworks are neat and cool,” Dessenberger said. “They are very dangerous, even for trained personnel to deal with.”

That point was driven home in 2000, when Wichita police Lt. Jack Galvin was killed when commercial fireworks blew up during a training exercise at the bomb range.