Brussels police seize €15,000 in illegal fireworks

Brussels local police last Wednesday seized €15,000 worth of illegal fireworks from a single shop owner. The offender stored the explosive material in his shop in the centre of Brussels, and in a garden shed at his home in Walloon Brabant. All of the fireworks will be destroyed, reports brusselnieuws.be.

On December 23, Brussels police investigated several reports of incidents with large fireworks being set off in the street. The minors setting off the fireworks had bought them in a specialised shop in Brussels, where police were able to make an arrest the following day.

According to the FPS Economy, the police witnessed a customer leaving the shop with a quantity of fireworks that exceeded the maximum amount allowed for private use. The officers then entered the shop for a thorough investigation, where they discovered that the owner had an environmental permit for a maximum 10 kg of fireworks, but was selling 4.5 times as much. All of the unlicensed fireworks, 35 kg in total, were seized by the police.

Another 6 cubic metres of boxes filled with professional fireworks were discovered at the owner’s home, where they were stored in a garden shed without a permit and with no safety measures in place. Those fireworks were also confiscated and will be destroyed following the prosecution.