Spanish authorities said on Thursday that Portuguese national Jorge Moreira, wanted in connection with a destructive blast at the Port of Beirut in August 2020, had been released on bail and was awaiting extradition to Lebanon for trial (*).
Moreira, 43, was arrested at Madrid-Barajas Airport the day before as Spanish authorities acted on an Interpol red notice, Deutsche Welle reports.
Investigators believe that the suspect, whose alleged actions caused the death of more than 200 people, ordered the 2 750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored haphazardly in a warehouse since 2014.
When the fertiliser material caught fire, it ignited and caused one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, AP and Reuters have reported.
It is thought that the ammonium nitrate entered the country in 2013 onboard the Rhosus, a Moldovan-flagged ship sailing from Georgia to Mozambique.
At the time, Moreira was an employee of Mozambican firm Fabrica de Explosivos de Mocambique (FEM), a position he left in 2016.
The Rhosus was seized by Lebanese authorities after a company filed a lawsuit against its owner over a debt dispute.
In 2014, port authorities in Beirut unloaded the shipment and stored it in a derelict warehouse with cracked walls.
Two other Interpol red notices have also been issued for the Russian captain and owner of the ship. They have not yet been apprehended.
Moreira has been charged with "terrorism" and "causing death through the use of explosives" in the incident that devastated entire neighbourhoods in Beirut.
In 2021, a Portuguese judge rejected an extradition request from Lebanon, citing incorrect paperwork.
Moreira had flown to Chile earlier this week, but authorities reacting to the Interpol notice immediately put him back on a flight to Spain. Spanish authorities have not clarified why he was allowed to board a plane to Chile in the first place.
His extradition procedure is expected to last several months. He was released from jail after posting bail, but is not allowed to leave Spain.
* Read this for context: https://tinyurl.com/2u6z9jr7
