As interrogations begin in Beirut blast probe, arrest warrant put out for customs official

Lebanon has issued an arrest warrant for a customs official in connection with the blasts in Beirut which shook the city.AFP reported that a Lebanese judge has put out a warrant against customs director-general Badri Daher.

Daher had been kept in detention for over ten days in the aftermath of the August 4 explosion which led to the deaths of 177 people, and injured 6,500 people. The city suffered major damage due to the blast.

Explosives kept negligently

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Most widely, a stuck stock of explosive ammonium nitrate stored unsecured in a port side warehouse for years has been blamed for the attack, citing negligence and corruption.

The judicial source told AFP that the judge Fadi Sawan interrogated Daher for four hours before the warrant was issued.

As per Lebanese law, one can be detained and questioned before they are formally arrested. The charges against Daher have not been revealed yet.

Many more to be interrogated

Ghassan Queidat, a public prosecutor had filed lawsuits against 25 suspects after the blasts occurred. Out of these, 19 are currently in custody. These include the city port’s general manager Hassan Koraytem, who will be interrogated on Tuesday.

Additionally, former Lebanese customs director Shafic Merhi, port security head Mohammad Al-Awf and port warehouse manager Michel Nakhoul will also face the judge soon.

The Beirut blast was so powerful that it was felt as far away as northern Israel and Cyprus (240 km away), and measured as a 4.5 local magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale by the Seismological Observatory in Jordan.

Observers estimate that the blast had an explosive yield of between 200 and 500 hundred tonnes of TNT.

The city which has been reeling in economic hardships and the recent surge in coronavirus cases has now been laid to waste as blasts occurred at a port warehouses storing highly explosive material.