(Credit: Hassan Ammar/AFP)
BEIRUT — Five men arrested in connection with 20 tons of ammonium nitrate seized on Sept. 18 in the Bekaa were released Saturday, the National News Agency reported.
Here is what we know:
• The five men — Ghaleb Solh, Khaled Hojeiry, Mahdi Sahhab, Mahmoud Darwiche and Ibrahim Chemali — work for the Solh company, which owned the seized ammonium nitrate.
•The NNA quotes Amani Solh, Ghaleb Solh and Khaled Hojeiry’s lawyer, as saying, “The truth will come out and we have complete confidence in the justice system.”
• The day after the chemical was seized, the Internal Security Forces announced that the owner of the warehouse where the hazardous materials were located as well as his son and the driver of the truck transporting the chemical had been arrested.
• A large quantity of ammonium nitrate, which can be used as both a fertilizer and an explosive, detonated in the Aug. 4, 2002, Beirut port explosion, killing more than 218 people and destroying large swathes of the capital.