Heavy illegal fireworks enter the Netherlands from German bunkers
While the Netherlands is introducing stricter fireworks rules, the police are finding illegal fireworks. The American traders serve the Dutch market from the old German Nato bunkers in the border region.
The thick sliding doors bear two retaliated Cold War-era security stickers. The bunker is covered with green deposits, coniferous trees grow on the roof. Veterinarian Dirk Jan Riemersma fiddles with the lock. “When the police came here, officers could hardly open the door,” he says. “If you can safely store fireworks anywhere, it’s here. It is an ideal place to stay.”
Hidden in the woods of Kevelaer, across the border at Venray, lies the former bunker complex Den Heyberg. Part of the 325 old community bunkers on the site has been converted into a (holiday) home. Other bunkers serve as horse stables or storage space. In June, the German and Dutch police found 20,000 kilos of heavy illegal fireworks in a number of bunkers on this complex.
During the joint action, which came out last week, the police seized a total of 350,000 kilos of illegal fireworks, intended for the Dutch market. It is the largest catch ever, more than the total number of kilos found in 2020 and 2021 combined.
A shadowy neighbor
The discovery in the past in a worrying trend where the catching of illegal fireworks has increased eightfold in five years. The police find fireworks in residential areas, sheds, in barns between the hay and in old bunkers in the German-Dutch border area. Dealers transport the explosives by road to the Netherlands from insurance companies. Not only consumers buy this explosive material, they have regularly used it in recent years during explosive attacks and attacks.
Veterinarian Riemersma leads the reporter around the bunker complex, dating from 1993 as a community storage facility. When the Cold War came to an end, NATO complexes of this kind became obsolete and fell into private hands. Riemersma eventually bought six bunkers on the complex from which he runs his horse clinic.
“From the last raids I buried,” he says. It reminds him of a few years ago, when the police found fireworks in his shadowy neighbor’s bunker. “No, I never saw him, but no one notices that here.”
In 2016 and 2017, the police also discovered tens of thousands of kilos of illegal fireworks in old bunkers in Kevelaer, belonging to Dutch traders. Last year the hit was in Rheine, across the border near Enschede, where the police found 120,000 kilos in former NATO bunkers. “The old NATO bunkers are often located in remote places in the border region. That makes it potentially very interesting for the illegal fireworks trade,” says Erik Kooijker, fireworks specialist at the National Unit of the police.
‘Where you used to lose a finger, you have now lost your whole arm’
Although it looks safe, it is not. “Traders also store legal fireworks in some bunkers, but this illegal material is much more explosive. The transports go through residential areas, dangerous to life.” The explosive bangers that are stored there often come from European countries such as Italy, Albania and the Czech Republic, where they are produced legally. Criminal traders buy it from the producer, sometimes with false papers, or through intermediaries.
In recent years, the Dutch police have been deploying more capacity to roll up fireworks networks. A special task force has been set up, and the police are cooperating with countries such as Germany, and with Europol. “More effort is desperately needed, because we see that the injuries caused by steeds are seriously illegal fireworks,” says Kooijker. “Whereas you used to lose one finger when the parting went wrong, you have now lost your whole arm.” Parents often know that children have these explosives under their beds. “They must realize that their kind is walking around with equipment that seasoned criminals use to bury bomb attacks and attacks.”
Stricter rules, more illegality
The police are getting a better view of the criminal organizations involved in the fireworks trade, which they believe are the likely finds. It is the demand for stricter fireworks rules in the Netherlands that contribute to the development of the illegal trade.
“The Netherlands may have the strongest rules in Europe in the field of fireworks,” says Leo Groeneveld of interest group Pyrotechniek Nederland. You are no longer allowed to set off bang fireworks and flares since 2020, and a general fireworks ban is in force in more and more places. The more legal fireworks you ban, the more demand for illegal fireworks, is his confirmation. The damage and nuisance caused by illegal firecrackers is the death knell for the image of the fireworks industry, says Groeneveld. “Legal sellers are tired of being associated with that.”
In the complex with German bunkers in Kevelaer they are ready with the fireworks finds. The manager of the park does not want to say anything more, the illegal fireworks have already suffered enough image damage. Veterinarian Riemersma fears that the recent police raids are not the last on the bunker park. “The old bunkers are rented out. It is difficult to do anything about that.”
Mayors are concerned
After the turn of the year last year, the 25 mayors from the Security Council expressed great similarity about the rise of very heavy illegal fireworks. Especially since the ‘bombs’ are being thrown at insurance companies, with all the consequences that entails. Caregivers are more often confronted with serious hearing damage.
Together with municipalities and the ministries of justice and security and related affairs, discussions are underway about how the trade in heavily illegal fireworks can be divided, including internationally. “This has not yet resulted in any new ones,” says a spokesperson. The mayors underline the importance of European agreements to combat illegal trade in the event of a general ban on consumer fireworks.
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