A police officer watches fireworks being destroyed at an artillery base in Fengxian District yesterday.  The city routinely destroys illegal fireworks in the run up to the Spring Festival.-- Shen Kai/Shanghai Daily

Yang Lifei / Shanghai Daily news

City fire authorities destroyed more than 12,000 boxes of illicit pyrotechnics at an artillery base in Fengxian District yesterday, the second such operation in the past 10 days.
Last Monday, the Shanghai Fire Control Bureau destroyed another 30,000 boxes of illegal fireworks worth about 6 million yuan (US$740,741).
Police said a system that offers cash awards for tips about people selling, storing, or transporting illegal fireworks has helped them make arrests in 40 cases so far this year.
They have arrested 11 suspects for producing or selling illegal fireworks since last year's Spring Festival, police said.
The city government set up a 2 million yuan fund to reward whistle blowers, who can earn 20 yuan for every box of illegal pyrotechnics seized.
Yesterday's action started early in the morning when 30 trucks loaded with recently seized contraband goods arrived at the artillery base.
Most of them were of inferior quality, and fire officials said they were very likely to cause injuries and pollute the environment.
"For example, the Magic Missile, which is also known as the Night-luminescent Pearl, is very dangerous to kids who may have their eyes and arms burnt when igniting the fireworks," said Zhou Meiliang of the city's Fire Control Bureau.
The on-site commander issued the order to explode the illegal fireworks at 11:30am and the pyrotechnics display continued for about an hour.
"As the Chinese Lunar New Year is drawing near, city fire departments will enhance their efforts to crack down on illegal fireworks business," Zhou said.