UN inspectors visit ice-making factory, defunct chlorine plant

United Nations inspectors yesterday continued their probe for evidence of illegal weapons in Iraq, visiting an ice-making factory and a defunct chlorine plant outside of Baghdad.

Experts from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) inspected a farm and visited an ice-making factory near As Suwayrah, approximately 50 kilometres southeast of Baghdad. Multi-frequency electromagnetic detectors were used to survey several areas of the farm, a spokesman for the Commission said in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, an UNMOVIC chemical team inspected Falluja I, a storage area for farm products and largely deserted, and Falluja II, a site that comprises the headquarters of the Al-Tariq Company and a factory area. The major activity at this location is the production of phenol and chlorine, although the chlorine plant is currently inoperative, according to spokesman Hiro Ueki.