Chilean police announced on Wednesday April 20 that they had arrested a Portuguese man wanted by Interpol in connection with the…2020 explosion in the port of Beirut that killed more than 200 people.
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The man, whose identity has not been released, landed at Santiago airport on a flight from Spain and was immediately flown back to Madrid, in consultation with Interpol, a statement on the font said. The wanted man is suspected of having introduced”explosive elementsin Lebanon, in connection with the explosion in August 2020, according to Christian Saez, chief of the airport police. †The red warrant against this person was in effect until today. In general, it makes it possible to locate and arrest a person abroad“Explained Maximiliano MacNamara, responsible for Interpol in Santiago.
“Red Notices”
The explosion on August 4, 2020 of several hundred tons of ammonium nitrate, stored for years in the port of Beirut”without precautionadmitted by the authorities themselves, had caused more than 200 deaths, destroying entire districts of the capital. The investigation into the explosion has been suspended for months. The authorities are accused of criminal negligence and accused by the victims’ families and NGOs of torpedoing her to avoid charges.
Read alsoPort of Beirut: Investigation still hampered
In January 2021, a Lebanese judicial source told AFP that Interpol had informed Lebanese authorities that it had issued at their request:red noticesagainst three people linked to the explosion in the port of Beirut. According to this source, the notices requested by Lebanese judge Ghassan Khoury concerned the owner and captain of a ship carrying a large cargo of ammonium nitrate at the origin of the giant explosion, as well as a man from Portuguese affairs who originally ordered the cargo. The cargo of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate arrived at the port of Beirut in November 2013 on a boat flying the Moldovan flag and departed from Georgia for Mozambique. According to Lebanese officials, port authorities had stored them in a derelict warehouse with cracked walls, while the “Rhosus“, immobilized after initiating legal proceedings against the owner, ended up sinking in the harbor in 2018.
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