Over 2,700 kilograms of illegal fireworks seized last week

Police in the Netherlands made two separate stops that led to a combined discovery of over 2,700 kilograms of illegal fireworks. Roughly two thousand kilograms was found after a 29-year-old in Enschede was found carrying boxes of the explosives to his car.

The man was quickly detained, allowing police to open an investigation into how he obtained the fireworks. That led police to two separate locations where the illegal material was discovered.

“A large part of the material seized is heavy explosives,” police said in a statement. The male suspect was later released after the official report was completed and filed.

Four days later, police patrolling the N322 near Deest stopped a delivery van, where officers found 705 kilograms of illegal fireworks. Authorities detained a 37-year-old Landgraaf man, and a man from Heerlen, aged 24.

The car was stopped at a checkpoint at about 9:30 a.m. “During the subsequent check, the officers saw large boxes of fireworks upon opening the back door of the van,” police said.

“The men were arrested and the fireworks were transported by a special company with two [vehicles] to a designated storage location,” police stated. The 25 boxes were entirely filled with heavy explosives, including mortar bombs.

“If one goes, they all go,” officers said about the fireworks. The two suspects caught in Deest, Gelderland, about 115 kilometers southwest of Enschede, were scheduled for a remand hearing in front of a magistrate on Tuesday.