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29 March 2024

Ramadan: Illegal sale of fireworks lose spark

Published
By Bindu Rai

Dubai Police has stepped up its campaign against the illegal sale of fireworks during Ramadan and the upcoming Eid Al Fitr celebrations, with 1,114 boxes seized in the latest raid on stores in Bur Dubai and Deira.

Shopkeepers that sell fireworks on the sly in those neighbourhoods, along with Karama, are fearful after Dubai Police cracked down on their locations.

Some retailers reportedly brandish their merchandise via BlackBerry groups created for selling fireworks to a wider customer base, but the cops caught on.

Brigadier Abdullah Ali Al Ghaithi, Director of the General Administration of security bodies, enterprises and emergency, Dubai Police, confirmed the same in a statement saying the 1,114 boxes of fireworks was seized from groceries in Bur Dubai and Deira when they were tipped off that a person sold and promoted this illegal activity over a BlackBerry device.

 An Iranian shopkeeper in Bur Dubai, who spoke to Emirates 24|7 on condition of anonymity, confirmed the same, saying: “The crackdown is worse this year, so we have stopped even sending out the BlackBerry and WhatsApp messages to our regular customers.

“Now, if you come to us directly, we will agree on the items you want to purchase and we can deliver it directly to people’s homes so that nothing is traced back to us.”

Prices have also taken a leap with the crackdown making it even more “dangerous for sellers,” said Fahad, another Bur Dubai shopkeeper who is a regular haunt for customers during Eid, Diwali and Christmas.

He said: “If you want sparklers, a packet of 10 will cost you Dh5; the large ones are Dh10 for 10. The pencils are Dh30 now for a dozen, while the big ones come for Dh50.”

This marks an almost 40-50 per cent mark-up in prices.

Meanwhile, if you pay for the butterfly, the fountain or the bottle rockets, prices vary between Dh25 and Dh55, while large rockets can cost upwards of Dh100.

A popular grocer in Karama who claims he’s been selling fireworks for 15 years now said: “We have a system in place. No goods will be brought or sold on the premises. There is an email account set-up and our regular customers are provided with those details. Once we receive the email order, the goods are delivered directly to their homes.”

The grocer added that with the Dubai Police crackdown, the bigger fireworks were finding lesser takers, with customers opting for sparklers, small bombs and the fountains.

In their ongoing campaign, Brigadier Al Ghaithi has warned the public of the damage it can cause to the health and economy, with burns, injuries and deaths in some cases, especially if users are children. In addition, unsupervised use of fireworks can also cause fires, which have occurred in the past in stores and warehouses.