No Guards at Site of Explosives Theft (NM-update article)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | Wednesday, December 22, 2005 | T.J. Wilham

[CedarDave]

No guards. No lights. No cameras. No alarms. A barbed-wire fence, a gate, a few warning signs and some locks are what guarded several hundred pounds of explosives, enough to blow up a large building. The security measures, which meet federal regulations, are what a thief faced sometime last week when the plastic explosives, 2,500 blasting caps and explosive detonator cords were stolen from a Bernalillo County storage depot.

The explosives belonged to Cherry Engineering. The company is owned by Chris Cherry, one of the nation's most respected bomb experts and a Sandia National Laboratories employee. The security measures protecting Cherry's explosives, which are used for training and testing, drew concern from state and county officials Tuesday. Cherry could not be reached for comment, but his wife, Betsy, said her husband was planning to move the explosives to a more secure location.

The storage depotsits off a dirt road within sight of Interstate 40. Authorities said anyone can drive up to the gate, which has several signs warning people that there are explosives inside. On the other side of the gate, semi tractor trailers called magazines store the explosives. There are plenty of indications that people have been around the site on car, bike, foot and horseback.

It was unclear Tuesday if there are more explosives still at the depot. "You have to question the logic behind a regulation that will allow someone to store high-grade explosives in a poorly protected site in the middle of nowhere, especially in the post 9-11 era," said Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White. "Someone could spend days out there working to breach those magazines." White said he met Tuesday with county officials to discuss possible options the county could take to regulate the site and others like it.

[CedarDave]

Sheriff White was on Fox and Friends this morning to update (no leads but tips) and to say he is contacting Senator Domenici's office regarding current storage/security requirements. There will be a push for rules/regulations for storage and security of these types of materials, even though some say it will be cost prohibitive and hinder training by police and other agencies. However, I happen to agree with Sheriff White.

Also, it was reported that Governor Richardson's jet (AKA the NM state taxpayer jet) flew to Tucson to pick up trained explosives dogs, trainers and other officers.

[Blood of Tyrants]

This is beyond stupid. If those explosives are used to kill someone, then the company who owned them ought to be held criminally negligent.

[CedarDave]

Forgot to mention that immediately after the theft was discovered, the Feds offered a $50,000 reward for return of the material, underscoring the types and volume of material stolen, and the damage it could do.

Previous story link here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1543505/posts

[penelopesire]

Thanks for the update. I caught a bit of an interview with White on MSNBC last night. He was no nonsense about the gravity of the theft. please ping me if you hear anything else. (please)

[Servant of the 9]

No guards. No lights. No cameras. No alarms. A barbed-wire fence, a gate, a few warning signs and some locks are what guarded several hundred pounds of explosives, enough to blow up a large building. The security measures, which meet federal regulations, are what a thief faced sometime last week when the plastic explosives, 2,500 blasting caps and explosive detonator cords were stolen from a Bernalillo County storage depot.

This is completely normal. There are thousands of sites like this all over the country.
Explosives are a normal construction tool in most places and they are almost as comman as firearms ammunition.
The idea of requiring more security is as silly as most democrat ideas to 'protect' us.

So9

[jackson29]

how about the company , its principals and its board of directors????

gotta think global here

[Darksheare]

Ping, more info on the 'splosives theft.
No guards, easy pickings.
What idiots.

[CedarDave]

Authorities from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms describe the explosives as 150 pounds of material that looks like plumber’s putty rolled up in wax paper ("deta sheets"). Also missing are 2,500 blasting caps and 20,000 feet of explosive detonation cord.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[SheLion]

This is beyond stupid. If those explosives are used to kill someone, then the company who owned them ought to be held criminally negligent.

Sheriff White stated this morning that they have no idea when the explosives were stolen!  So they could be anywhere in the Country by now, and he needed the help of the United States.  Pretty scary stuff.

[CedarDave]

There should be levels of security required depending on the amount, type, planned use, etc. A couple of sticks of dynamite is considerably different from the sophistication of some of this material.

[CedarDave]

Stolen sometime in the five-day period between December 13 and 18, when the theft was discovered.

[mewzilla]

So federal/state regs didn't require more security? If not, how about just plain common sense?!

[Prime Choice]

The security measures, which meet federal regulations...

I think I'm going to be sick. Again.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Correct. When I was in the coal mine business, we had a a storage building for Dupont Tovex and blasting caps (we didn't use dynamite) and a semi trailer full of 50 pound bags of ANFO. The rules at the time required wood interior, large signs and locked doors. That's it.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

It is also used in shot hole seismic crews and would increase the cost of oil exploration.

[absolootezer0]

"You have to question the logic behind a regulation that will allow someone to store high-grade explosives in a poorly protected site in the middle of nowhere, especially in the post 9-11 era,"

barbed wire fence, locks, altho i don't see mention of how strong of material the housing for them was i'd bet it was pretty hefty. sounds like a perfectly acceptable means of storage to me, unless people would rather have this type of item stored in a populated area?

[joesnuffy]

somebody better hang for this....

[Walkingfeather]

I imagine they are already facing bankruptcy since I am sure their insurance company has canceled their ability to work.

[CedarDave]

Channel 4 video here:

http://www.kobtv.com/snapshotskob/html/23345.html

(but no pictures of site. Channel 7 has been showing video of it from the air and up close on the ground, but has none on their web site.)