After the blast, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said it was “unacceptable” that a shipment of an estimated 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored for six years, but documents obtained by CNN show that members of the Lebanese government and judiciary have been accused of large quantities of the dangerous material stored there – and that it may have failed to protect it.
In 2013, a Russian-owned ship, MV Rhosus, was captured in Beirut with a cargo of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, which is used in industrial agriculture and mining. The cargo was said to be for Mozambique, but the ship stopped in Beirut due to financial difficulties.
Baroudi & Associates, which represented the crew of the Russian ship, issued a statement on Wednesday stating that in July 2014 they had sent letters to officials in the port of Beirut and the Ministry of Transport “warning of the dangers of the materials that” were carried on the ship. ”
They state that they also received a letter that month “from the General Director of Land and Sea Transport informing us that he sent official letters to the Ministry of Justice asking them to do what is necessary for the ship to to prevent sinking and the port to the danger of its load. ”
“He also told us that he sent a letter to the naval authorities to do what is necessary to repair the ship and prevent it from sinking,” the statement wrote.
CNN has reached the Lebanese Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Transport and Beirut Port for comment, but has not received a response.
Despite warnings, the cargo remained at the port.
Lebanese judicial authorities on Friday upheld the detention of the director general of the Lebanese Customs, according to state-owned company Media Outlet NNA, after hours of investigation into the explosion, which killed more than 150 people and injured thousands.
Authorities also ordered the detention of the head of the port of Beirut and the former head of customs, and the investigation is ongoing, NNA reported. No further details were given as to why they were being held.
Repeated warnings
Customs authorities have issued repeated reports to a judge about the dangerous charge, according to documents seen by CNN. But the judge, who for legal reasons could not be named, responded multiple times, saying the ship and its cargo might not be within the court’s jurisdiction, the documents show.
In four handwritten responses written in 2016 and 2017, the judge and her successor responded to letters from Lebanese customs officials saying they “needed to discuss to what extent the court’s jurisdiction” handled this case.
Baroudi & Associates also stated that the intended destination of the potentially explosive charge was Mozambique and that it was shipped “by order of the International Bank of Mozambique for Fabrica De Explosives” when it was detained in Beirut.
FEM told CNN this was the only shipment of the chemical ordered by the Mozambican firm that never arrived, calling it “absolutely not normal.” CNN agreed not to publish the spokesperson’s name due to concerns about the employee’s privacy amid a sensitive international story.
FEM worked with a foreign trade company to transfer the chemical compound to Mozambique from Georgia, where it was produced. But several months after the shipment left Georgia, the spokesman told the trading company FEM that it would not arrive.
The spokesman said colleagues at the company were very “surprised” to learn how long the chemical had been stored in the port “that is not material you would have stored without using it.”
The International Bank of Mozambique did not respond to a request for comment.
But the director of the Beira Port in Mozambique, António Libombo, has denied knowledge of the Russian ship, according to local Portuguese news broadcaster Lusa. “Normally, before we get a ship, we get notified. In this case, we never get a notification from a ship coming to the port of Beira with those characteristics and cargo,” Libombo told Lusa.
The Mozambican Ministry of Transport and Communications also told Lusa that they were not informed about the Russian ship.
The possibility that the explosion could have been prevented has already sparked accusations of illegality from the government, rooted in long-standing frustration among the political class of Lebanon.
The explosion came when Lebanon was already seeing rising unemployment, rising prices and a currency in free fall. For many, the tragedy is further evidence of government inadequacy and corruption.
CNN’s Tara John, Tamara Qiblawi and Helen Regan contributed to this report.
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