As we noted here last week, the BBC refrained from reporting on the arrest in late May in Cyprus of a 26 year-old Canadian-Lebanese man with suspected Hizballah links.
“The Phileleftheros newspaper said the 26-year-old man, who was remanded in custody Thursday, belonged to the Lebanese organization’s military wing and had personal links to Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The daily said the man, who has not been named, arrived in Cyprus last week for what he described as a holiday.
He was arrested on Wednesday following a period of surveillance and more than 400 boxes of ammonium nitrate – a fertilizer that when mixed with other substances can be used to make explosives – was discovered at his home in Larnaca.”
Even more recently, the Cypriot police announced the arrest of a second man in connection with the same case.
“A second Lebanese man has been arrested in connection with the seizure of five tonnes of possible bomb-making material ammonium nitrate, police said Saturday.
The 62-year-old from Lebanon, said to have Cypriot identity documents, was detained in the capital Nicosia.
According to the official Cyprus News Agency, police believe he imported the nitrate in ice packs as part of first aid kits.”
Apparently, the amount of ammonium nitrate found was larger than first thought.
“The man was arrested in possession of what authorities said at the time was two tons of ammonium nitrate — a fertilizer that when mixed with other substances can be used to make explosives.
Police said closer inspection showed the man’s home to contain more than five tonnes of the material.”
The Jerusalem Post adds:
“Under Cyprus anti-terrorism laws, anything that can be used potentially as an explosive, with probable cause, is an offense.”
Remarkably, there has to date been no BBC coverage of this story on the BBC News website’s Europe or Middle East pages.
