Dubai: The use of unregulated firecrackers during Eid celebrations poses a public safety risk and shops found selling such items will face action, a senior official said.
Sultan Al Suwaidi, head of Dubai Municipality’s public health and safety department, said that injuries and fires attributed to firecrackers are reported almost every year during festive occasions.
Officials have echoed similar views in the past also, but some residents — typically children — seem to get their hands on illegal firecrackers.
Al Suwaidi said unlicensed firecrackers are mostly smuggled into the country and any shop caught selling them will have the items seized besides facing penalties, depending on the case.
In 2007, there was a proposal to categorise firecrackers as explosives and impose fines or even jail terms on vendors. Two years later, it was reported that fireworks had been listed as explosives and could attract punishment under articles of the federal laws on firearms, munitions and explosives.
A number of fire incidents — with some involving casualties — have been reported in the past across the UAE in places stocking up on firecrackers without proper safeguards.
Demand for firecrackers goes up during Eid holidays, driven largely by children and teenagers. The underground market is lucrative with sales going into tens of thousands of dirhams in a few days, vendors say.
The fireworks are usually smuggled in — concealed amid other goods in freight containers — before being collected and stored in apartments. Salesmen in some groceries then direct potential customers to the apartment for deals.
The cheaper varieties of firecrackers generally originate from China and cost anywhere between one dirham to Dh100, sellers said.
The most popular varieties include the ‘rocket’ and the ‘dragon’ with multiple explosive pellets. Larger rockets, which can produce a flash of colours when they explode, go for Dh100, while ‘dragons’ are sold in bundles of five for Dh5.
