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50K lbs of fertilizer will make a very big hole in the ground ~ Boom ~ Bump!

Is it hard to turn it into explosives? I don't want to draw attention to myself by googling Explosives just right now. Any events this weekend? Mardi Gras is coming up on Tuesday!!! Oh hell, that is horrible to think about.

There have been waaay too many of these fertilizer thefts, IMO.

Here's an old article with a little information about amounts and such:

August 3, 1998

Blast Grade Ammonium Nitrate Stolen From Storage Bin in West Virginia

The FBI is offering a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those involved in the theft of 25 tons of ammonium nitrate from a farm supply company. The chemical is a common ingredient in chemical fertilizer; it is also the primary blasting agent in homemade bombs. According to U.S. Attorney William Wilmoth, the material stolen is of the type normally used as a blasting agent for commercial explosive, rather than as a fertilizer. The amount missing is about 10 times that used in the bomb that destroyed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. That blast killed 168 people and injured hundreds of others.

The Associated Press quoted Wilmoth as saying that it is unclear exactly when the chemical was removed from a bulk storage bin at Bruceton Farm Services in Bruceton Mills. The theft was reported to the sheriff's department Wednesday. The material was stolen from an elevated container under which trucks pull up for filling. Wilmoth said that access to the filling area "apparently wasn't very well secured."

Joint Effort to Recover the Chemical
FBI agents in Pittsburgh, together with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Maryland State Police and other law-enforcement agencies are trying to track down the missing material . FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Dennis Lormel was quoted by AP as saying, "At this point, all we know is the ammonium nitrate is missing. Our main focus is to account for it. However, we are treating this with the utmost caution."

Simple Theft?
Agents have interviewed farmers, strip miners and construction companies, all of whom might have a use for the chemical—either as a fertilizer or an explosive. The FBI is currently working on the theory that no more is involved than simple theft. However, even if such is the case—and the material was not stolen by or at the behest of terrorists—the ease with which the theft was executed should set alarm bells ringing throughout the American counter-terrorist establishment. If an agricultural or construction firm could make off with such a large quantity of explosives grade material, a terrorist organization would certainly have no trouble doing the same.

Source: Associated Press