Two face charges after buckets filled with gas

ORANGE, Conn. (WTNH) -- A New York man who drove all the way to Orange to get gas is under arrest for how he tried to bring it back to his home state.

Police say he filled up dozens of buckets full of gas, which is both illegal and dangerous.

It was a potentially disastrous situation at a Valero gas station in Orange. Police say Yunus Latif was filling 35 five-gallon buckets with gasoline. The van was full of dangerous fumes and some of the buckets were expanding the tops popping off.

"It's totally a risk. Like it could be happening any time," said Muniruzzaman Gomosta, gas station owner. "It's a high risk and violation of the rules, of the rules and he knows. This is very dangerous, this is liquid."

Gomosta tells News 8 he was very busy and didn't realize what kind of container Latif was using. We have learned both he and Latif were cited for illegally transporting flammable or conbustable liquids.

"So are you going to be a little more careful now when people..."

"Oh yeah, of course, of course," said Gomosta, "I watch every single moment what they're doing over there."

"Desperate measures I guess, but that's still not a good thing to do," said Dolores Conroy, of Seymour.

"He said he was getting gas for all the folks from his neighborhood in New York," said News 8's Tina Detelj.

"Wow, I wouldn't want to have been on the highway following him that's for sure," said Conroy.

News 8 is told they had the buckets stacked on top of each other and in a van moving, stopping, or hitting a bump it could have easily just spilled right over. If that gasoline soaked down through the floor and hit the exhaust it could have caused a fire. The fumes themselves were very explosive.

"If the gentleman had left and gotten on the highway I predict there would have been a very serious problem in a short period of time," said Timothy Smith, Orange Fire Marshal.

That's why only approved containers should be used.