Man busted with 500 kg of homemade fireworks was hurt in 2008 explosion

A man arrested in a residential neighborhood in Vught on Friday with 500 kilograms of homemade fireworks was previously injured 12 years ago in an explosion caused by his own fireworks. Police said the 46-year-old man was arrested after the fireworks were found in a home on Hageland and in a shed behind a home a kilometer away on Jagersweg.

According to Omroep Brabant, the man resides at the Hageland address, and the shed was on his mother's property. The "heavy homemade fireworks" were confiscated and would be detonated by an explosives ordinance disposal unit, police said.

"Storing large amounts of fireworks in a house or shed is life-threatening. There is a great risk of fire or explosion," police noted in a statement. "This causes injuries and significant damage every year."

One such instance was back in 2008, when the same man was badly hurt in an explosion at his old home on Pieter Bruegellaan. The explosion was so destructive that it shattered multiple windows and even damaged property inside the house in Vught. The suspect’s wife at the time was at home, along with his months-old daughter who was asleep in her crib at the front of the house.

Her crib was full of glass after the explosion, but neither she nor her mother were harmed, Omroep Brabant reported. The man's wounds were so bad that the police decided to drop all charges.

The broadcaster said the man published extensively on his Facebook page against the Dutch ban against fireworks this year. In November he posted on his Facebook page, “So, I’m preparing for December 31. Already put aside money for the fines. That doesn’t interest me, they can’t take my day away.”

When police discovered the fireworks at his home last week, they evacuated the surrounding homes as a precaution. “It is not only very frightening, but this also has immediate consequences for the neighborhood and for the family itself. The most important thing is that the environment is safe,” said the property manager of the housing foundation which oversees the man's home.

“The danger has now passed, but how do we deal with this further? We naturally want to prevent this in the future.”