More than 2,000 boxes of fireworks - said by police to be a danger to the public - were discovered in a raid on a storehouse in the Pudong New Area.

Jiang Aishan, a spokesman for the Shanghai Fire-Fighting Bureau, yesterday said: "The confiscated fireworks are valued at about 500,000 yuan (US$60,459)."

Last week, a local resident called to report the illegal fireworks.

The police reacted immediately and stormed the storehouse, where inspectors found most of the fireworks were dangerous, including almost 1,000 explosive cubes the size of small TV sets.

"In addition, we still found 1,100 bar-shaped fireworks about 1 meter high, which can easily cause injury," Jiang said. "It is rare to seize such a large number of bars at one time."

During last year's Spring Festival, two people were killed by illegally made substandard fireworks.

Police detected that most of the fireworks were from Central China's Hunan Province and East China's Jiangxi Province, which were wrapped in boxes used to contain cigarettes.

Jiang said this illegal business has increased with the approach of Spring Festival, so local authorities have tightened their safety inspections.

On January 8, Baoshan District police confiscated 100 boxes of illegal fireworks during a routine evening patrol.

Police said all confiscated fireworks will be destroyed.

To deter people from the illegal pursuit, two dealers were put into a reform and re-education house last year.

Moreover, the city also established a fund of 150,000 yuan (US$18,138) to award to people who report the making of illegal fireworks last year. This year, the amount of the fund has been raised to 2 million yuan (US$241,838).

Some 251 kinds of qualified fireworks have been permitted to be sold during the upcoming Spring Festival in the city.

Local police will provide standard fireworks with a mark of quality, which will be designed, printed and handed out only by the police.

(China Daily January 15, 2002)