Posted on 07/19/2008 12:06:11 AM PDT by Schnucki
French anti-terrorist officers are searching for 28kg (61lb) of Semtex explosive missing from a depot in the suburbs of the city of Lyon.
France's interior ministry confirmed an investigation was underway, saying the manager of the site had been suspended.
Semtex is a powerful explosive favoured by terrorist groups as it is odourless and difficult to detect.
Police said detonators were also missing and that they are treating the theft "very seriously".
The depot, in a disused 19th century fort at Corbas, is used for storing explosives by a civil defence unit charged with the job of blowing up bombs and ammunition left over from the two world wars.
Police said the discovery that the Semtex was missing was made on Friday but admitted the explosives could have been taken up to a week ago.
In a statement released late on Friday the interior ministry said there had been "security failings" which had made the theft possible.
Police sources have declined to confirm a newspaper website report which said that the store had been unguarded.
Semtex, which was first made in the Czech Republic, is used in mining and demolition work.
A bomb containing about half a kilogram of the explosive caused the blast which brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1998, killing 270 people.
Look for blonde Christians...anything else would be profiling
A whole 61lbs... Woo.
Probably was just some youths having a little fun.
KABOOM!!
You mean they still have weapons in France?
61 lbs of Semtex means how much explosive power ???
Too bad for the Spanish people, that the Spanish courts
have just last week given a ‘green light’ for terror there.
Half a pound was apparently used to destroy Pan Am flight 103.
I have it on the highest authority that the Amish are highly suspect..........
Yep,
It’s always those damned Amish at the heart of all mankinds trouble.
It has twice the explosive power of TNT, is malleable, and can be molded into small apparently innocuous items. It has virtually no odour which makes it hard to detect by sniffer dogs or sniffer equipment.
Less than half a kilo of Semtex bought down a Boeing &$& over Lockerbie Scotland in December 1988
Boeing &$& = Boeing 747
First, it's 61 pounds. Second, even 6 pounds of that stuff could do some major damage.
I'd think with over 600 pounds of semtex is worrisome. The detonators being stolen is just icing on the cake.
The French and all the Europeans should be cr#pping in their pants cause you could be a busy little bee for 10-15 years with that much semtex. That stuff is really stable if you store it right, or so I've been told. PLUS the detonators..... which is the important thing for little newbie bomb makers.
There's probably enough Semtex floating around Europe, Northern Ireland, Asia and South America to have fun.... but with ready made detonators, ya got real problems.
I wonder if it was the stuff in sheets or bricks?
nevermind,
move along, nothing to worry about.
Now where are those pesky little detonators?
Is Semtex the same as C4 and I don’t mean C4 Corvette?
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