120,000 kilos illegal fireworks intended for NL found in Germany

The Dutch and German police discovered some 120,000 kilograms of illegal fireworks in Rheine, Germany - just across the Dutch border. The fireworks, found stored in bunkers, were intended for the Dutch market, the police believe.

At 120,000 kilos, the find was almost as big as all the illegal fireworks confiscated in the Netherlands last year (123,000 kilos). The police think it will take a month to inventory the lot.

According to the police, the bunkers serve as a sort of collection point for the middlemen in the illegal fireworks market. The intermediaries drive there with passenger cars and rented vans, and then transport the fireworks to the Netherlands. Transporting fireworks without the proper precautions can be life-threateningly dangerous, the police warned. Especially when it involves dangerous fireworks.

Rheine is located just across the German border, near Enschede. Many of the illegal fireworks offered in the Netherlands are stored in border areas with Belgium and Germany, where old NATO ammunition bunkers make suitable storage spaces.

The investigation is ongoing and the police do not rule out eventual arrests.