On 31 October 2014, an entry voucher was granted for the cargo of Mv Rhosus under a license granted by the judge of urgent matters to the General Directorate of Land and Maritime Transport to unload the cargo in an appropriate place and store it under the directorate’s supervision. The clearance and its attached documents indicated that the unloading took place in Hangar 12 stating that 2,000 sacks of 2,750 sacks of ammonium nitrate were ripped.

In the  manifest detachment’s referral, which has the same date of the entry voucher, first sergeant Ghassan Ghasani affirms that the cargo was unloaded between October 23 and October 24 in the presence of the harbormaster Mohammad Al-Mawla and the supervisor of the implementation of the judicial decision, the notary public Ziad Shaaban. However, according to the execution minutes of the notary public Ziad Shaaban, the facts are different and inconsistent, noting that he visited the port on October 21 to supervise the unloading of the cargo but he was asked to return later on the pretext of the need to ventilate of the ship’s holds before unloading the material due to their dangerous nature.

Shaaban was asked to come back on November 13, about three weeks after the cargo had already been unloaded, to check on them in Hangar 12. He subsequently appointed the harbormaster Mohammad Al-Mawla as a guard of the cargo, representing the General Directorate of Land and Maritime Transport, but the latter stated that he has no power over Hangar 12 that falls under the customs and the Port Management and Investment authority, although the party that chose the port and Hangar 12 as the right place to store the cargo is the directorate of transport represented by Al-Mawla.

An investigative report by journalists Feras Hatoum and Layal Bou Moussa shows that in a secret recording, first sergeant Ghassan Ghassani, confesses that neither the harbormaster nor the notary public were present when the cargo was unloaded. In the same recording, Ghassani doubts that the quantity of the unloaded cargo reached 2,750 tons.

It is worth mentioning that Mv Rhosus remained anchored in the port for three months since the date of its arrival without any warning of the danger of the cargo on board and without listing the cargo on the unified list, until a warning letter sent by Joseph Skaf in January 2014 impelled the relocation of the ship to the breakwater by the end of March. After moving the ship, satellites recorded in May 2014 images of Mv Rhosus  with a ship next to it in a suspicious position, This contiguity lasted for more than 48 hours.