The roads and markets were devoid of traditional sellers of fireworks, after the intensification of security campaigns and the cooperation of the competent authorities in order to besiege those who sold them, so the explosives dealers took advantage of social media platforms to promote their dangerous goods. The practices of cannabis traders and their activities spread in search of quick profit after they deliberately missed the warnings about their dangers. Okaz monitored famous sites and communication platforms that were involved in buying and selling and public display of fireworks and firecrackers, and they wrote down numbers and methods of communication with the allocation of a commission for the website advertised for them.
Sweetness and «Azouz Red»
The offers monitored by “Okaz” included wholesale and retail sales, and names for these explosives appeared, including the “Azouz Red” bomb, the “Cobra” bomb, the “sweetness of the bomb” yellow and red, gorilla, dynamite, cannon, batteries, and various types of them in sound and color, including what flies and explodes in the sky .
The offers are updated around the clock, and are sold wholesale and retail, and their number exceeded, within 5 days, more than 100 offers on a popular electronic platform for buying and selling, while other visual offers appeared on a social networking platform presented by sellers and sellers to sell fireworks with confidentiality in the process of communicating with customers. for fear of being caught.
Use with controls and permissions
The security expert, retired Major General Abdullah Hassan Jidawi, confirmed that the use of fireworks by children poses a danger to their lives, and endangers the lives of others because of the explosive and flammable materials they contain, which may cause horrific accidents that are not without limb amputation or eye injury. Jeddawi explained that the use of these explosives is most often done according to standards and conditions, through specialists, and with permits and in accordance with a regulation to preserve lives and property, stressing the need to report those who trade, smuggle and use them. And he indicated that the explosives may be a cause of fires and loss of life and have serious damage.
6 months imprisonment and a fine of 100 thousand
The Public Prosecution warned against making, possessing, exporting, importing, selling, storing, destroying, or training in explosives and fireworks, except with a permit from the Ministry.
She pointed out that fireworks pose a grave danger to the health of society and the environment, and it is not permissible to use them except in the cases indicated by law.
And it indicated that whoever smuggled explosives into the Kingdom, or manufactured them, or traded in them, shall be punished with imprisonment for a period of up to 6 months, and a fine of up to 100,000 riyals.
It added that it is prohibited to manufacture, possess, export, import, sell, use, circulate, transport, store, destroy or train in explosives and fireworks, except with a permit from the Ministry. In accordance with the provisions of this system and its regulations.
Punishment of the seller and the buyer
Lawyer and legal advisor Abdulaziz Al-Kulaisi indicated that smuggling, storing, trading or using fireworks was included in the Explosives and Fireworks Law, which stipulates in Article 16 the punishment of imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years, and a fine not exceeding two million and 500 thousand riyals, or one of these two penalties, each Whoever smuggled explosives into the Kingdom with the intention of trading, or manufactured them. The Explosives and Fireworks Law specified a penalty of 6 months imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 riyals for smuggling, manufacturing, or trading in explosives. Article 4 of the system stipulated that manufacturing, possessing, exporting, or Importing, selling, using, circulating, transporting, storing, destroying, or training on them can only be done with a permit from the Ministry of Interior.
Article 17 stipulates imprisonment for a period not exceeding 5 years, and a fine not exceeding one million riyals, or one of these two penalties, for anyone who possesses explosives, or transports them knowing that they are explosives, or buys, sells, or uses them.
Customs: Preventing “Night Stars”
Saudi customs stated that the goods that are prohibited from being imported include fireworks that are used by children, such as tarta’i, rockets, matches, and night stars. And it indicated that the entry of weapons, fireworks, firecrackers, daggers and sharp swords without prior permission exposes the bearer to strict legal penalties.
Trade: rewards for the whistleblower
The Ministry of Commerce stressed the pursuit of those involved in storing prohibited fireworks, and called for cooperation and reporting on fireworks warehouses and wholesalers, by calling the Communications Center at 1900 or through the application of a commercial communication, confirming the provision of a reward of 5 thousand riyals for those who report fireworks warehouses. .
Al-Madani: It’s dangerous
The Civil Defense warned against fireworks that pose a threat to the lives of children, calling on families and guardians to monitor their children and not allow them to buy these toys, tamper with them, or get carried away by their desire to own them, especially since many types of them have strong explosive power and lack the most basic elements of safety and security in their use. Because of its low manufacturing specifications, which makes it vulnerable to spontaneous explosion in the event of exposure to high temperatures, friction with rough surfaces, or pressure on them. And the Civil Defense stressed that fireworks and firecrackers are a danger that some people enjoy, resulting in severe damage and catastrophes to the body of those who use them, or causing fires in the places where they are used, and may lead to amputation of fingers, or tearing eye tissues when the fragments of these games reach them, or Body burns and deformities, in addition to the possibility of causing many fires in places of use, whether in public places, homes or rest houses.
Doctors: Do not wash your eyes!
A number of doctors have warned of the danger of fireworks, stressing that they are not games for entertainment and are used only by those who have received training in them. Doctors emphasized that fireworks and firecrackers may be a direct cause of hearing damage, loss of fingers and limbs, or eye injury, and may lead to blindness, which threatens the future of the child.
The doctors stressed that these explosives may result in severe burns, which often affect the fingers, arms, eyes and face, which may make it impossible to return to normal life. Because second and third degree burns lead to deformities.
They indicated that among the most prominent injuries that result from fireworks are visual bruises with serious injuries, which leads to complications and serious consequences, such as blindness. Doctors indicated that eye injuries resulting from fireworks are often severe and can cause a permanent decrease in visual acuity or loss of visual acuity, burns of the eyelid and conjunctiva, tearing of the eyelid and eyeball, in addition to corneal wounds, which are the most dangerous of these injuries. They added that the user of the games or scenes is also threatened with the entry of foreign objects into the eye, in addition to the occurrence of bloody accumulation in the anterior chamber of the eye. They stressed that the injuries may multiply over time to cause corneal opacity, cataract, glaucoma, dislocation of the natural lens from its place, fundus injuries, retinal detachment, vision loss and may cause total loss of the eye. Doctors noted not to wash the eye with water or to try to remove impurities or objects that may be stuck inside it, and to go to the emergency department to receive the necessary medical care as soon as possible.
