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It could have been stolen, as the FBI suggests. Or it had been sitting in a sea port warehouse for 7 years. As it is hygroscopic and readily absorbs moisture f
by sparrish 5y ago
It could have been stolen, as the FBI suggests.
Or it had been sitting in a sea port warehouse for 7 years. As it is hygroscopic and readily absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, it may be that the shipment had broken down over that time and only 20% of its explosive energy remained.
- aurizon 5y agoThey normally ship in heavy plastic bags. There is a little water vapor transmission, but not enough to seriously degrade the Ammonium Nitrate - except for tears/punctures etc. One press release commented about damaged cargo. My guess is the local terrorists used it as an explosives bank. Being a customs port, it should all the watched/counted, but beirut is one of the most corrupt countries on earth = easy to steal/import anything. Now you know how Hezbollah gats their stuff, as I am sure Israel knows and monitors well.
- ficklepickle 5y agoThe bags were torn. They couldn't even give the stuff away, and not for lack of trying.
- aurizon 5y agoI feel this material was intentionally stranded in this customs purdah for the purpose of providing explosives to terrorists and over the years ~~four-fifths of it was removed from a supposedly secure customs enclave. The explosion was so intense that it was all detonated - it is possible a small amount was scattered, but no significant residual unexploded Ammonium Nitrate was found.
- oivey 5y agoI’m sure they considered that. It’s rather obvious, and the degradation of the material was openly reported in the news at the time.