Source: Global Network
[Global Network Report Reporter Zhao Youping] The big explosion in the Beirut port area was related to ammonium nitrate . The Hong Kong police posted on Facebook today (6th) that ammonium nitrate is one of the main raw materials used by terrorist organizations to make homemade bombs in recent years. The police have found ammonium nitrate and other chemicals in many bomb-related arrests in the past. The police reiterated that anyone who possesses ammonium nitrate with the intention of using it to make explosives may be guilty of manufacturing or possessing explosives and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Screenshot of Hong Kong Police Facebook
The following is the full text of Hong Kong Police Facebook:
Ammonium nitrate is an industrial chemical mainly used as an important ingredient in agricultural fertilizers. Under certain conditions, ammonium nitrate may cause an explosion. According to reports, the recent explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, is also related to ammonium nitrate.
In fact, ammonium nitrate has been one of the main raw materials used by terrorist organizations in making homemade bombs in recent years. The police have also found ammonium nitrate and other chemicals in many arrests involving bombs in the past. These include Wan Chai Queen's Road East on December 9, 2019, Tai Kok Tsui Betfair Street Commercial Building on March 8, 2020, and explosives and improvised items at Lung Yuk Path in Siu Sai Wan on March 26, 2020. Bomb case.
The police reiterated that any person who possesses ammonium nitrate with the intention of using it to make explosives may be guilty of the crime of "manufacturing or possessing explosives" and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The red mushroom cloud rising from the explosion site. (Source: Twitter )
At around 18:10 local time on the 4th, a violent explosion occurred in the Beirut port area. Lebanon's Supreme Defense Council stated that the accident was caused by flammable and explosive materials that ignited more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate, which had been stored in the port warehouse since 2014 but had never been properly disposed of.
