This year, as every year, for the Police, the dangerous phenomenon of the use of crackers by young people, mainly, is a headache. Authorities have already seized a large number of crackers, which are expected to increase in the coming days as Holy Saturday and Easter approach. Most of the pyrotechnic items have been confiscated in the last month, that is, since the beginning of the Police prevention campaign. As part of this, during the Holy Week that we are going through, the patrols will be intensified, with a focus on the holy temples.
Thousands of seizures
Tens of thousands of pyrotechnic items have been confiscated by the Police so far, with half of them being crackers, Pyrotechnician Odysseas Papadopoulos told politis.com.cy. He explained that, in addition to the crackers, among those seized were flares, hand signals and fireworks. The number of those confiscated will increase, he said with certainty, while he noted that 85-90% of the pyrotechnic items have been confiscated in the last month, during which the campaign for prevention and suppression of the phenomenon is underway.
They arrive camouflaged
Regarding the crackers, Odysseas Papadopoulos stressed that they are factory-made and all are banned. Some enter the Republic of Cyprus through the occupied territories and some through the legal entrances – airports and ports, without being declared – but camouflaged. For example, he explained, a container, which arrived at the port of Limassol, may have contained, along with other goods and crackers, which, of course, had not been declared. The importers of the crackers are not necessarily the importer of the legal goods, but another person, falsely stating that they are clothes or any other legal goods.
Inability to control and/ > facebook
The Pyrotechnician explained that it is not possible to control all the containers, while it is also outside the legal framework to control those arriving from European Union countries. Crackers can also be imported online and delivered, even by mail or courier company, without the courier knowing what the cargo is, as the goods are sealed.
Explaining how the chain of the illegal cracker trade works, Mr. Papadopoulos said that the difficulty of control lies in the fact that, possibly, a consignment arrives in Cyprus illegally, which has been declared and unloaded in a warehouse, which also operates illegally. The manager of this warehouse has his own network, in which he channels the information that crackers or fireworks are available for sale and, now, the order is made through closed groups on facebook, for example. As for their distribution, it is not always done with the same courier, nor does the illegal warehouse manager himself transport the crackers to the courier, nor are they always transported to the same point of the same courier.
Difficulty connection
It is extremely difficult to connect with the crime of possession and use of crackers, someone who commits it, due to the fact that the time of the crime is minimal. As Mr. Papadopoulos explained, even if there is an eyewitness and an audible witness to an incident of the use of a cracker by another person and the police officer arrives within a minute, the crime has been committed. The witness will tell the member of the Police that he saw the scene, but this can not be proved in court that the explosion was due to a cracker. Therefore, the Police aim at the trade, the sale and the transport of these dangerous objects, so that the effort can be rewarded, clarified the Firefighter.
Declared and undeclared injuries >
At the moment, the injuries due to the use of crackers, which have been reported, relate to very minor cases. As Odysseas Papadopoulos explained, the numbers that are announced every year, are only those that are declared, as the injured are not obliged to report the cause of their injury when they arrive at the hospitals. Also, their choice not to state how they were injured, lies in the fact that they will reveal that they possessed and used crackers illegally.
Checks are intensified
According to the recent announcement of the Police, during the Holy Week sequences, the police patrols will be intensified, mainly outside the Holy Temples, culminating in the operation and procession of the Epitaph and the feast of the Resurrection, where most of the temples of the cities will be policed. of the countryside. The Pyrotechnician, Odysseas Papadopoulos, also noted that more intensive controls will be carried out in places where crackers are used, as well as in roadblocks, but also in the community of Pyla, due to the peculiar status of the community, which favors the illegal transport of crackers. the occupied areas. Relevant instructions have been given to the Traffic Department, he noted, finally.
