Children are having a tough time buying firecrackers for Eid this year as a fresh clampdown by authorities pushes the black market deeper underground.
Last week, officials revealed a draft law which seeks to categorise firecrackers as explosives. If the rule comes into effect, shopkeepers selling firecrackers will be liable for prison terms and thousands of dirhams in fines.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi police are to send text messages to the public that underline the risks.
The awareness campaign, titled "Their Safety is Our Eid", was unveiled in the capital by police media director Major Nasser Khadem Al Ka'abi.
Despite a nationwide crackdown, firecrackers are in huge demand – driven largely by adolescents – during occasions like Ramadan and the two Eids. Retailers do business in under-the-counter sales in the festive season.
Grocery shops, the usual point of sale for cheap and often dangerous firecrackers, are taking no chances of getting caught.
* Are you aware of the dangers of using firecrackers in Duabi? Will you be buying them this seaon? Vote in our poll.
"I used to make thousands of dirhams in profits from firecracker sales in the fasting and Haj seasons. I even got fined three years ago, but now it is a different story. They'll shut down my shop for good or put me in jail," said an Indian grocer in Jumeirah 3 on condition of anonymity.
Another vendor, who asked not to be named, said children are being redirected to flats in buildings to buy the merchandise.
"About 50 kids show up at my shop or call asking for firecrackers every Eid. A businessman I know made Dh130,000 off them during Ramadan," said an Iranian trader near Al Mazaya Centre.
A Sharjah retailer on Al Khan Street said: "The firecrackers are smuggled hidden among other goods in freight containers. They are stored at someone's apartment and the store salesman tells the customer where to go."
The inferior variety comes from China and costs anywhere from a dirham to Dh100, depending on the type of firecracker and its quantity, the sellers said.
The most popular varieties include the surface-to-air ‘rocket' and the chain-reaction ‘dragon'.
Larger rockets, which explode in different colours, go for Dh100, while ‘dragons' are sold in back-to-back batches of five, for Dh5.
Firecrackers may be here to stay but they do not have to come at a cost. "The least I ask is to have some supervision," said Captain Yousuf Al Mugezwy, the head of Dubai Civil Defence's Al Qusais operations.
"We got a call about a fire at a warehouse. When we got there, we were surprised to see huge explosions," said Al Mugezwy.
"Apparently, they had been storing illegal fireworks. Nine men were trapped in the warehouse. We spent the night collecting the body parts of the eight casualties – the ninth was found the next morning on the roof of the neighbouring warehouse."
Blast That Noise
Shopkeepers found selling firecrackers will face several years in jail and pay hefty fines once the proposed law which seeks to categorise firecrackers as explosives comes into effect.
