A crew of immigrants from El Salvador were caught driving with Molotov cocktails after an early-morning traffic stop on Long Island this week, Suffolk County police said.
Cops pulled over a 2008 Honda Accord that was allegedly driving erratically shortly before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday on Lexington Avenue in Central Islip, the department said in a press release.
Police said they spotted two of the homemade flammable devices inside the vehicle.
Three Salvadoran nationals — Lorenzo Alvarado-Navarrete, 18, Elvis Romero-Martinez, 20, and Albert Yanes-Moran, 20 — were charged with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Romero-Martinez, who was behind the wheel, was also hit with “multiple traffic summonses.”
Cops did not reveal why the three allegedly had the Molotov cocktails in the car, but said the incident “was determined to be non-terrorism related.”
“Thanks to the great work of the Suffolk County police officers, these Molotov cocktails were discovered and neutralized before anyone could be hurt,” Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney said in a statement.
“This alleged conduct will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and my office will be working with our law enforcement partners to make sure that individuals who seek to endanger our citizens are caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Tierney said.
Police said all three Long Island suspects are scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.
A Molotov cocktail is an improvised device typically consisting of a bottle with flammable liquid with a make-shift fuse that is used as a weapon during civil and political unrest.
In January, an illegal Mexican immigrant was sentenced to four years behind bars for hurling a Molotov cocktail at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during violent anti-ice protests in 2025.