Officials Fret Over Disappearance Of Explosives (NM)

KOAT TV7, Albuquerque ^ | December 19, 2005 | KOAT News

[CedarDave]

Officials Fret Over Disappearance Of Explosives 150 Pounds Of Explosives Missing From Sandia-Affiliated Company

POSTED: 2:10 pm MST December 19, 2005 UPDATED: 2:17 pm MST December 19, 2005

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Officials discovered hundreds of pounds of explosives stolen in Albuquerque on Sunday.

One hundred fifty pounds of c4, 250 pound deta sheet, and 2,000 blasting caps were taken from a Sandia Labs employee's company.

Officials are very concerned about these thefts.

The items were stolen from a facility in Southwest Albuquerque.

Burglars apparently cut through steel bars to get at the goods.

C4 is a plastic explosive.

A deta sheet is another explosive that looks like a rubbery sheet of orange or green paper.

What makes deta sheets especially dangerous is that they can be hidden in books or letters. It cannot be spotted by a metal detector but are used by engineers for detonation.

Blasting caps are devices used to set off explosives.

If you know anything about the disappearance, please call police.

Copyright 2005 by TheNewMexicoChannel.com.

[Travis McGee]

A bad guy with that much deta sheet could cause a lot of mischief.....

[piasa]

OK, missing explosives and missing radioactive material, both incidents relating to New Mexico... did they steal anything besides the vials?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1543843/posts

"Radioactive Materials Still Missing in North Texas"
North Texas Independent Media Center ^ | Dec 15 2005 | by Cliff Pearson

Posted on 12/20/2005 2:28:56 AM PST by Calpernia

"Nuclear Vials Presumed Stolen, Questions Remain About Safety and Procedures"

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Federal and state officials report they still have not located two vials of radioactive material that went missing November 3 as they were being shipped by truck from Albuquerque to Kilgore, Texas.

Two plastic tubes of antimony-124, a highly toxic and radioactive liquid primarily used by the oil and gas industry, are looking increasingly like they have been stolen somewhere en route from Albuquerque to Kilgore, Texas, according to New Mexico and federal officials."

[CougarGA7]

I wouldn't want you to store that stuff either. I'm not interested in helping you open Ketchup bottles.

On the other hand,(pun intended) I would buy you a wrist watch with a bunch of push button features.

[OKIEDOC]

Yep, lesbian Lt. Governor steels explosives to blow up governor with frisky hands.

That should be the headline.

[Squantos]

Yep.....will be a story to follow .

[CougarGA7]

I'm hopeful that the only story to follow is "We caught them. All explosives discovered"

But you are right. If they start using this stuff it will be pretty obvious.

[Squantos]

Agree..... Who's to know if this is Islam, MS13, IRA, or Hold my Beer Bubba's ?

Stay Safe !

[vrwc0915]

I would bet on the first 2,

[CougarGA7]

Al-Qada is always the first suspect by default, but it is true that we cant rule out any group at this time, or even some disgruntled current/former employees. Unfortunately we just dont have enough information yet.

[rahbert]

which Lt Governor?

[CedarDave]

This one:

Richardson Says Antics Ease Tension, Boredom; Lt. Gov. Calls Them Annoying (NM)

[rahbert]

Denish is married and has a passle of kids.

[CedarDave]

Denish is from Hobbs, which is little Texas. We do things differently down here -- a little more conservative. Though she is a typical liberal Democrat, she was raised properly and understands such things go beyond being "playful". She must have been pretty annoyed to talk about Richardson like that. One thing, though: she can't be fired by him!!

[Freebird Forever]

Dont worry the Patriot Act will expire soon.

Good. Perhaps then we will see some legislation enacted which can actually prevent the theft of high explosives. The patriot act certainly didn't.

[DesertDreamer]

Did you happen to read Denish's attempt at a retraction/clarification on Monahan's blog this morning?

[rahbert]

Oh dear. Sounds like Herb might be touching the Guv
soon..

[CedarDave]

Nope. If it's different than the Santa Fe New Mexican article referenced on Drudge, post a link on the other thread:

Richardson Says Antics Ease Tension, Boredom; Lt. Gov. Calls Them Annoying (NM)

[CedarDave]

This is the second theft that has occurred at the location.

The first was in 2003 when seven 50-pound bags of ammonium nitrate fuel oil were stolen— the same type of material that was used to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City. That was found a week later by an off-roader exploring in the area.

Again, as shown on video by Channel 7, absolutely no security at the site except a fence and locked/barred containers, and the theft occurred sometime between December 13 and last Sunday, when it was discovered.

If the explosives are used in a terrorist-type bombing with injuries and deaths, I see lawsuits for negligence against Cherry, no matter that he was in compliance with federal explosive storage regulations.

[geopyg]

And compared to the amount stolen in a year - its nothing. I vaugely heard on the radio some guy talking about the thousands of pounds stolen each year. Then someone else was saying "and without a guard or even cameras this was Federally licensed..." - we know where THAT is heading.

[RightWhale]

Upgrading requirements to include active surveillance and perhaps round the clock guard would result in greater expense and probably in reduced stocking of explosives at industrial and lab sites, which would also drive up the cost of operations. If they are going to do that, they would also need to consider guarding gasoline service stations and fuel shipments, as well as farms and homes where more than ten gallons of gasoline or fuel oil are stored in tanks above ground, underground, or in vehicles. A quart of gasoline has the same power as a stick of dynamite.