Genoa port authorities released a shipment of almost 50 tons of a chemical weapon precursor Friday that it had confiscated last month, a shipment possibly headed for Libya, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Jan. 16).

Italian customs police seized the shipment of morpholine, a precursor of mustard gas, to investigate where the shipment was headed and whether it had proper documentation.

The news ends several days of concern following a report by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that said that the shipment was bound for Libya and its cargo could be used to create weapons of mass destruction.

“The cargo was perfectly in order,” said Genoa port authority chief Fabio Capocaccia.  “The products were found to be as stated on the manifest,” he added.  “The cargo was signaled as presenting a danger and was unloaded and stocked in a special zone because of that warning. … The Guardia di Finanza (customs police) decided to impound it only as a precautionary measure,” he also said, declining to comment on whether the presence of U.S. customs officials in Genoa had contributed at all to the publicity surrounding the incident.

U.S. sources told AFP last week that U.S. authorities were aware of the suspect cargo, but did not take part in the operation to temporarily impound the cargo (AFP, Jan. 17).

Italian Authorities Considered Charges

La Repubblica reported Friday that Italian legal authorities were drafting charges following the seizure that included the “illicit introduction into the state of weapons components” and predicted that the case was likely to proceed as no one had come forward to request that the three containers containing the 240 barrels of morpholine be released. 

Another decisive element in the story was that the Libyan company, Jowfe Corp., or National Company Drilling and Equipment, which was officially listed as the recipient of the shipment, is under observation by Western intelligence services, La Repubblica added.

The formal charges were also expected to cite possible falsification of documents accompanying the shipment and a lack of important authorization to transport the sometimes toxic chemical that is also used to maintain drills at oil fields.  According to La Repubblica, substances such as morpholine are not allowed under international regulations to be transported to certain countries (Marco Preve, La Repubblica, Jan. 17, GSN translation).

According to another report Friday by La Repubblica, about a dozen companies from around the world were involved in the shipment.  Two ships were also involved — the North Star, a Cypriot-flagged ship owned by the German company Oldendorf and chartered by the Islamic Republic Limited of Shipping Lines, an Iranian company and the Tyra, a Danish-owned ship.

La Repubblica reported that none of the companies involved had contacted Italian authorities to protest or request the cargo’s release, nor had BASF, which produced the morpholine. 

“This is surely a very particular operation,” said Nicola Piacente, one of the Italian officials involved in the investigation.  “The ship sailed to Genoa by way of a strange route and is it is yet to be determined” the route it was going to take, Piacente added, noting that the real issue is that in order to be sent to particular countries, “this kind of material needs precise authorization” (Calandri/Minella, La Repubblica, Jan. 17, GSN translation).

In a prelude of what was to come, Piacente said the seized shipment could still be released without charges.  “Don’t be scandalized if within days we order  release,” Piacente said (Corriere della Sera, Jan. 17, GSN translation).

The news on the seizure and the subsequent release of the morpholine came as Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu raised the alarm last week that a terrorist cell had entered the country through Libya and could be planning attacks this month (Fiorenza Sarzanini, Corriere della Sera II, Jan. 17, GSN translation).

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