Illegal fireworks now via Telegram and Snapchat: ‘People want to pop’

Lars got to know people who could sell him large batches of fireworks. “I have it sent to a bunker in Germany, and then I drive back and forth when I have a number of orders.” He knows that with the sale of cobras and heavy nitrates he runs the risk of severe punishment. “A cobra 8 is equivalent to owning a Kalashnikov, if you are caught with it, you will be sentenced to five years in prison,” he says.

No warning

Buyers of illegal fireworks are not aware of the consequences, according to Van Neutegem of the police. “What we see is that boys around the age of 15 buy a pack of nitrates and then sell them on to other children at school. Usually those children are not aware of the consequences that this can have.”

Children under the age of 16 who are caught by the police selling fireworks do not get rid of a warning, but have to go to the juvenile court immediately. “We now mainly focus on the young people who sell it on to other children in the neighborhood and at schools.”

From worry about illegal fireworks are big. “You can compare this heavy firework with a hand grenade or mass explosive,” said fireworks expert Ad Nieuwdorp of the police. “If that goes off in a residential area, you really have a big problem.”

With the police tightly controlling borders and mail order companies, traders seem to be making more and more use of drug routes to the fireworks to bring to the Netherlands anyway. The illegal fireworks are collected abroad and sold in the Netherlands from, for example, trunk and cars, the police noted.

‘Police are not in control’

“If you read that the police have seized 4000 kilos of fireworks somewhere, that is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Lars. “We sell those quantities in a week.” From time to time he notices that the police reads under fake accounts. “So if a newly created account without followers or messages suddenly starts sending me a message, I do have my doubts.”

He understands that the police are detecting illegal trade in this way. “But they cannot control it. Just look at the riots in Urk, Roosendaal and Arnhem.”

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