The firecrackers trade in the Czech Republic appears to be booming after the sale of fireworks was temporarily banned in Germany.
“We are noticing a significant increase this year compared to 2020,” a federal police spokesperson said in the Bavarian town of Selb, which sits on Germany’s border with the Czech Republic.
Firecrackers are being seized almost daily, said the spokesperson for the Selb federal police inspectorate.
On Tuesday alone, young people were caught with several kilograms of fireworks in three cases in the area. On the same day, police officers found 30 kilograms of prohibited firecrackers during three checks near the town of Furth im Wald, federal police announced on Wednesday.
The federal police spokesman said that often it was occasional buyers, such as commuters from the Czech Republic, or private individuals who bought firecrackers for themselves or friends. In some cases, however, the perpetrators also wanted to resell the goods.
The firecrackers are mostly bought at markets near the border.
According to the federal police, these fireworks are often counterfeit and sometimes dangerous.
Anyone caught with illegal firecrackers can be charged under Germany’s Explosives Act. Offenders can also be ordered to pay for the costly destruction of the fireworks.
In Germany, the sale of fireworks before New Year’s Eve has been banned for the second year in a row. In the Czech Republic, however, fireworks can be sold all year round.
The fact that fewer fireworks were seized last year could be due to the fact that there were border checks in some cases and so traffic was reduced at that time, said the federal police spokesman.
