Govt orders security audit of large warehouses, ports after Beirut explosion

Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 7

The government has ordered a detailed security audit to verify and confirm whether any hazardous and explosive material is lying in large warehouse facilities and ports across the country and if they meet all the safety norms.

Sources in the government said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked all the agencies including Central Board of Indirect taxes & Customs (CBIC) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to do the needful in view of a massive explosion in the Lebanese capital Beirut last Tuesday.

Following the MHA direction, the CBIC in a note asked all its field formations including the customs officials “to immediately verify and confirm within 48 hours that all hazardous and explosive material lying in warehouses and ports across the country meets safety and fire standards and presents no danger to life and property”.

A senior official said, “This precautionary step has been taken in view of the recent incident of an explosion in a foreign country caused by such material.”

Sources in the MHA said even intelligence and other security agencies have been directed to keep an eye on organisations, which could deliberately/intentionally get their large consignments of explosive materials seized by the customs officials.

The sources said initial reports suggested that nearly 700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate are lying in a Chennai warehouse following the seizure by the customs department in 2015. The importer, a private firm, did not have the required permission to import the substance. The seized chemicals are valued at around Rs 1.80 crore, they added.

Ammonium nitrate, widely used in fertilizers and explosives, is reported to have been the cause of massive explosions in the Lebanese capital. The explosion was caused by 2,750 tonnes of the chemical stored at a port in the Beirut city.