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yesterday

Bulgaria Detains Beirut Blast Shipowner Igor Grechushkin After Airport Arrest

Lebanon is preparing a transfer request to question him in the port explosion probe.

A view shows the site of the Aug. 4 explosion at Beirut port, in Beirut, Lebanon December 9, 2020. Picture taken December 9, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows the damage at the site of a massive explosion in Beirut port, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo
A drone picture shows the destruction after an explosion at the seaport of Beirut, 5 August, 2020
The August 4, 2020 disaster was one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions

Overview

  • A Sofia city court ordered Grechushkin held for up to 40 days, giving authorities time to receive extradition documents under Bulgarian law.
  • He was stopped on September 5 at Sofia Airport on an Interpol red notice after arriving from Paphos, Cyprus, and he cooperated with officers.
  • Bulgarian prosecutors say Lebanon seeks him for alleged offenses including introducing explosives into the country, a terrorist act causing many deaths, and disabling machinery with intent to sink a ship.
  • Lebanese judicial officials say they are drafting a transfer request and could send investigators to Bulgaria to question him if he is not handed over.
  • Grechushkin, a Russian-Cypriot identified as owner of the Rhosus that carried ammonium nitrate to Beirut, is wanted in a case over the 2020 blast that killed at least 218 and injured more than 6,000.