A shipowner wanted over a 2020 blast at Beirut port that killed more than 220 people has been arrested in Bulgaria, officials said Tuesday.
Igor Grechushkin is one of three people wanted by Interpol and linked to a shipment of ammonium nitrate that exploded at the port, injuring over 6,500 people and ravaging swathes of the Lebanese capital.
The August 4, 2020 disaster was one of the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions.
Beirut authorities identified Grechushkin, a 48-year-old Russian-Cypriot citizen, as the owner of the Rhosus, the ship that transported the ammonium nitrate.
“He has been placed in detention for a maximum duration of 40 days by a court decision on September 7, confirmed on appeal,” a Sofia city court spokeswoman told AFP.
The authorities requesting extradition have 40 days to send the necessary documents to effect such a move, according to Bulgarian law.
Grechushkin was held on an Interpol red notice at Sofia airport on September 5 upon his arrival from Paphos in Cyprus, a Bulgarian judicial source confirmed to AFP.
The Rhosus, a Moldovan-flagged cargo ship sailing from Georgia and bound for Mozambique, is widely understood to have brought the fertilizer to Beirut in 2013.
After it arrived in Lebanon, the Rhosus faced “technical problems,” and security officials said it was impounded after a Lebanese company filed a lawsuit against its owner.
Port authorities unloaded the ammonium nitrate and stored it in a run-down port warehouse with cracks in its walls, according to officials.
The Rhosus sank in Beirut port in 2018.