Chile sent a Portuguese suspect in the case of the Beirut explosion in 2020 to Spain

The Chilean Investigative Police (PDI) intercepted this Wednesday at Santiago airport a Portuguese man pursued by Interpol on suspicion of “interning explosive elements in Lebanon” that they may have caused the tragic detonation of the year 2020 in Beirut.

The passenger, who had embarked in Madrid (Spain) on his way to Santiago, Chile, was intercepted by police detectives, who reported a “red broadcast emanating from Interpol,” Cristian Sáez, head of the prefecture of International Police at Arturo Merino Benitez Airport, explained at a press point.

The passenger is suspected of “interning explosive elements in Lebanon,” Saez added, in connection with the August 2020 Beirut attack, which caused more than 200 deaths and 6,500 injuries and devastated entire neighborhoods in the Lebanese capital.

After being identified, the Portuguese was returned to Spain, where he would be received in accordance with that country's regulations and the instructions of the International Central of Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization), the policeman clarified.

Almost two years after the Beirut disaster, the investigation into the event remains open and with little progress due to what various human rights organizations consider a deliberate obstruction by former senior suspects in the case.

The explosion, regarded as one of the most powerful non-nuclear artificial detonations in history, prompted the Lebanese government to declare a two-week state of emergency in response to the disaster.

As a result, protests erupted against the Executive for its inability to prevent disaster.

The hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded in Beirut had been stored in the port for years without security measures, and leaders such as Lebanese President Michel Aoun and then-Prime Minister Hasan Diab have acknowledged that they knew of their existence before the deflagration.

The dilemma of silos

Lebanon last week ordered the demolition of Beirut's grain silos that are at risk of collapsing following the devastating explosion at the port of 2020, prompting protests from the families of the victims of the explosion who want the silos to be preserved.

“We entrusted the Council for Development and Reconstruction to oversee the demolition process,” said Information Minister Ziad Makari, after a cabinet meeting, without specifying a time frame.

Makari said the government's decision was based on a report by Lebanon's Khatib and Alami Engineering Company, which warned that silos in the capital's port could collapse in a few months.

“Repairing them will cost a lot,” Makari said.

Last year, the Swiss company Amann Engineering also called for its demolition, saying that the most damaged silos were tilted at a speed of two millimeters per day (0.08 inches).

Once with a capacity of more than 100,000 tons, an imposing 48-meter (157-foot) tall remnant of the structure has become an emblem of the catastrophic August 4th port explosion.

Still, the silos absorbed much of the impact of the explosion, protecting large swaths of western Beirut from its devastating effects.

Activists and family members of the victims of the explosion have called for the grain storage facility to be preserved as a memorial site.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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