Laran Arynich has been wanted since 2011.

Laran Arynich

Laran Arynich, the former director general of woodworking company Pinskdreu, has been arrested in Poland, the PAP news agency said on Wednesday.

Earlier, Belarus demanded the Polish authorities to detain Mr. Arynich until the arrival of a formal request for his extradition. The Belarusian Prosecutor General`s Office is said to be preparing the extradition request, BelaPAN says.

According to PAP, Mr. Arynich was apprehended at the house that he has rented in Radom, a city some 100 kilometers south of Warsaw. The Belarusian looked very surprised but did not resist arrest, the news agency said.

An arrest warrant for Mr. Arynich was issued in September 2011.

The former executive is facing charges in connection with a deadly blast at Pinskdreu`s plant in October 2010. Three more Pinskdreu executives have been charged over the explosion. They have already been convicted and two of them have been imprisoned.

The explosion at the company’s chipboard plant killed two workers at the scene. Twelve more workers died later in the hospital.

Mr. Arynich was dismissed as director general of the private Pinsk-based company in January 2011 by the board of the Belarusian State Timber, Woodworking, Pulp and Paper Industries Concern.

The dismissal happened days after Aliaksandr Lukashenka transferred the control of ZAT Pinskdreu to the state conglomerate, a move that sparked objections from the shareholders and raised further questions about the safety of private property in Belarus.

Explosion at Pinskdreu

The explosion at woodworking factory Pinskdreu in Pinsk, Belarus, occurred on October 25, 2010. The explosion was caused by the violation of safety and operating rules which caused the explosion of thin wooden dust.

The explosion itself and the following fire killed total 14 people. The Pinskdreu explosion became the largest industrial accident in Belarus over the last few decades.

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