Dubai: Dubai Police caught several illegal vendors of firecrackers as part of its crackdown on its illegal sale in the city.
Brigadier Abdullah Ali Al Ghaithi, Director of Protective Security and Emergency Department at Dubai Police, said they seized 2,469 boxes of illegal firecrackers during 432 inspection visits to different shops in the city.
Dubai Police have warned shops from selling firecrackers without licence but some of them still sell them on festive occasions like Eid and Diwali.
Brigadier Al Ghaithi said that more than 20,000 boxes of firecrackers have been seized in Dubai since launch of a regular campaign some four years ago. He said during Eid and other festive occasions we focus on grocery shops which illegally sell the firecrackers.
Brigadier al Ghaithi said more than 1.300 people were educated about the dangers of using firecrackers during an awareness campaign which was launched on May 29. He said our awareness campaign on social media platforms reached more than 13,000 people.
“Parents must protect their children especially aged 8 to 12 from the dangers of using firecrackers. Some parents don’t alert authorities about the injuries caused to to their children while playing with firecrackers because they are afraid of the punishment,” Brigadier Al Ghaithi added.
He said during Diwali we raised an awareness campaign among Indian community about the dangers of using firecrackers and it helped us a lot to control the problem.”
He noted that many large fires in previous years were caused by illegal firecrackers because of poor storage facilities at the warehouses.
Punishment
Article 66 in UAE Federal Law criminalise possessing, promoting and buying firecrackers.
Those who use firecrackers can be sentenced to three months in jail and slapped with a Dh5,000 fine
