Two men arrested after police find roughly a ton of illegal fireworks in their car

Police arrested two men on Saturday after finding almost 1,000 kilogramss of illegal fireworks in their car. The suspects are a 22-year-old man from Loosdrecht and a 19-year-old man from Velserbroek.

They were stopped for a traffic control on the A1 highway by De Lutte in the northeastern province of Overijssel where they entered the Netherlands from Germany. The police found 968 kilograms of fireworks, which they suspect was purchased illegally in Germany.

The men were arrested on the spot. Police reported on Sunday that they were still in custody.

The control was conducted by a special interjurisdictional police team made up of officers from the Oost-Nederland police district, German police teams, and the Marechaussee, the Dutch military branch tasked with patrolling the border. They work in pairs consisting of one Dutch and one German officer to facilitate direct action on either side of the border.

The Netherlands introduced a ban earlier this year on certain non-decorative fireworks that produce heavy explosions, but in Germany these are still legal. Police said they were working under the assumption that many will try to buy these fireworks in Germany and bring them back over the border, some with an eye for selling them on the black market.

Dutch police have already announced that they plan to increase patrols around the border area.