Sharjah24 – AFP: Lebanese authorities have seized 20 tonnes of ammonium nitrate -- the same chemical behind a deadly explosion last year at Beirut's port -- in the eastern Bekaa Valley, state media reported on Saturday.
Ammonium nitrate is an odourless crystalline substance commonly used as a fertiliser that has been the cause of numerous industrial explosions over the decades.
At least 214 people were killed and some 6,500 others wounded on August 4, 2020 when a shipment of the chemical carelessly stocked at the Beirut port for years ignited and caused a massive blast.
On Saturday, the National News Agency (NNA) said security forces raided a fertiliser warehouse in the eastern Bekaa Valley, considered a hub for smuggling operations between Lebanon and Syria.
Authorities seized 20 tonnes of the dangerous chemical stored inside a truck parked at the warehouse, the NNA said, adding the material was transported to a "safe place".
Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, who visited the Bekaa Valley on Saturday, called on security forces to conduct a sweep of the area.
"We must do our best to move these materials to a safer place away from exposure to heat and sun" to avoid a "catastrophe", the NNA quoted him as saying.
The company that owns the ammonium nitrate said that the fertiliser was intended for agricultural use.
The name of the firm that owns the fertiliser has not been made public pending investigations.
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