Easter is approaching and brings along a dangerous and illegal custom, the firecrackers. The police has been hunting for the past few weeks, people trying to illegally smuggle and distribute firecrackers of which the demand is still high even after the information campaign against them. Firecrackers are not illegal but a special permit for handling explosive material is required and is only given easily for obvious safety reasons.

The war so far:

On 26th March
The police arrested a 44 year old father and his 16 year old son who where spotted trying to sell a 1600 firecrackers of Turkish origin to a third individual who managed to escape arrest.

28th March
A 26 year old from Limassol was arrested after the Drug Law Enforcement Unit inspected his car which was parked outside a restaurant and found 1991 illegal firecrackers.

29th March
A police patrol arrested 3 teenagers aged 16, 17 & 19 who were driving a car between Derynia and Paralimni. 250 firecrackers of Turkish origina were found in their possession.

30th March
A firecracker exploded on a Lefkara High School bus. The firecracker was set off by a 17 year old student who was reported to the police by the bus driver.

2nd April
Over 1000 firecrackers were confiscated by the police at the Oroklini area near Larnaca, the owners of which remain unknown. It appears that they left them because a large number of them exploded. The police is looking at Hospitals and Clinics in case they were injured and show up for treatment.

4th April
The police after receiving information that a 49 year old was using his house to supply drugs performed a search and found 6481 firecrackers instead of drugs. The man was arrested but he is not cooperating with the police who is trying to find the origin of the firecrackers.