Bulgaria has arrested Igor Grechushkin in connection with the 2020 Beirut chemical explosion case
Bulgarian authorities have arrested a man who held the lease on the ship that brought thousands of tons of chemicals to Beirut, where they exploded in 2020 while in storage at the port, causing catastrophic damage and killing more than 200 people.
Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior confirmed today that Igor Grechushkin was arrested at the airport in the capital, Sofia, at about 1 a.m. on September 5, after arriving on a flight from Cyprus.
Grechushkin, who holds both Russian and Cypriot citizenship, was detained after a screening at border control turned up an Interpol red notice for a man matching his description, a spokesperson for the ministry told OCCRP’s Bulgarian member center, BIRD.
“The man did not resist being detained, requested a meeting with a lawyer and after talking with them, he fully cooperated with the Border Police,” the spokesperson said in an email.
The confirmation comes after media reports on September 15 that Lebanese judges said Grechushkin had been arrested in Bulgaria.
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Grechushkin was widely reported to be the owner of the Moldovan-flagged MV Rhosus, a decrepit vessel that brought ammonium nitrate to Lebanon. However, an OCCRP investigation revealed that he only held a lease on the ship, which was actually owned by a Cypriot shipping magnate.
Grechushkin’s Bulgarian lawyer did not respond before publication to an emailed request for comment on his arrest. The lawyer hung up the phone when an OCCRP reporter stated their identity, and did not answer a subsequent call.
The explosion on August 4, 2020, involved almost 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, a volatile chemical stored for years in unsafe conditions at the Port of Beirut. It was one of the most powerful non-nuclear blasts in history. The shockwave shattered windows miles away, killing at least 218 people, injuring about 7,000, and levelling large swaths of the city.
The tragedy prompted an outcry for accountability, and Lebanon launched an investigation into the origins of the ammonium nitrate, and why it had been stored for so long in such poor conditions in the port.
That investigation was stalled for years, but recently gained traction when a new government was formed earlier this year.
Kirill Romanovskiy