Ah, July 14, its military parade, its fireworks and … its illegal mortars. To avoid their use and while they are often diverted, the police are called upon to strengthen controls from July 7 to 13, as the National Day approaches.
In a telegram, the director general of the National Police Louis Laugier underlines that these pyrotechnic devices are “regularly diverted from their use by delinquents within the framework of violence against the police”. “Faced with this phenomenon,” he continues, “the action will be strengthened as July 14 approaches in order to dismantle supply networks, online sale and storage of pyrotechnic devices”.
An illicit trade
A decree strengthening the sanctions for detention and illicit sale of these devices was published on Saturday in the Official Journal. The use of artifice mortars against the police is recurrent during episodes of urban violence, but also on the fringes of festivities.
Whether this is before the New Year or on July 14, criminals take advantage of this period to sell these vehicles an illicit trade. Friday evening in Torcy (Seine-et-Marne), a man was arrested by the police and placed in police custody in possession of 625 kg of fireworks he had stored in a garage.
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