Bulgarian police on Tuesday reportedly confirmed that Russian-Cypriot Igor Grechushkin was arrested at Sofia airport over his alleged involvement in the 2020 Beirut blast, killing at least 218 people.

Forty-eight-year-old Grechushkin, a Limassol resident who holds a Cypriot passport and was wanted by Lebanese authorities, had arrived in the Bulgarian capital from Paphos airport on September 6.

He was reportedly apprehended in Sofia by Bulgarian authorities, acting on an Interpol Red Notice, a global alert issued to locate and provisionally detain individuals pending extradition or other legal proceedings.

“[Grechushkin] did not resist arrest, cooperated and nothing suspicious was found in his luggage,” head of the border police at Sofia airport Zdravko Samuilov said.

Asked by the Cyprus Mail how Grechushkin was able to reside in and depart from the island without being arrested by local authorities, Cyprus police said that there was no respective agreement with Lebanon.

“Cyprus does not extradite Cypriot citizens to Lebanon,” the police told the Cyprus Mail, adding that the Red Notice had been issued after Lebanese authorities had turned to Interpol.

Various media outlets had described Grechushkin as the owner of Moldovan flagged MV Rhosus, which carried the estimated 3,000 tonnes of explosives causing the massive 2020 blast in the port of Beirut.