Bulgaria arrests Russian owner of ship whose saltpeter exploded in Beirut in 2020

Igor Grechushkin, the Russian owner of a cargo ship linked to the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that caused the explosion at the port of Beirut in August 2020, has been arrested in Bulgaria.

Splash Splash 24/7 reports.

Grechushkin, a Russian national who also has Cypriot citizenship, was detained at Sofia airport last week after arriving on a flight from Cyprus. His arrest comes almost five years after a Lebanese investigating judge issued an Interpol arrest warrant.

Documents are currently being prepared for Grechushkin’s extradition to Lebanon. If the Bulgarian government refuses, investigators are ready to travel to the country to question Grechushkin on site.

Recall that the explosion at the port of Beirut occurred on August 4, 2020. The explosion killed at least 218 people, injured more than 6,000, and caused billions of dollars in damage.

The cause of the disaster was the Moldovan-flagged ship “Rosus”, which was abandoned in Beirut in 2013 with a cargo of ammonium nitrate. The ship was initially detained by the Lebanese government for non-payment of port dues and has been in the port of Beirut since 2013, and the cargo of nitrate was transported to a warehouse in the port, where it lay until the disaster in 2020.

Earlier, USM reported that Lebanon has resumed its investigation into the explosion in the port of Beirut: 10 more people will be tried.