The Lebanese authorities have arrested 4 people connected to the truck loaded with tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate that was seized in mid-September.
Today, Tuesday, the Lebanese Army Command said in a statement that its Intelligence Directorate had arrested 9 people suspected of being involved in the case. Most notably of them are the owner and driver of the truck.
“The owner of the truck, named Saad Allah Al-Solh, had bought a quantity of ammonium nitrate from the so-called Maroun Al-Saqr in March, while two Syrians, Obeida Al-Abd Al-Rahman and Khaled Al-Hassan, transported these chemicals,” stated in the army’s statement.
” Four people have been arrested and referred to the competent judiciary on charges of selling, buying, storing and transporting prohibited substances, while the other five have been released,” added in the statement.
It is worthy of mention that Bassam Mawlawi, Interior Minister, announced in mid-September that 20 tons of ammonium nitrate had been seized on a truck in Beqaa Governorate in the east of the country.
On August 4, 2020, tons of the same substance caused a huge explosion in the Port of Beirut, causing 218 deaths and 7,000 injuries, as well as massive material destruction in residential and commercial buildings.
The explosion broke out in Warehouse 12 at the Port of Beirut, which the authorities said to have contained about 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been confiscated from a ship and stored there since 2014.
