Agent: Explosives Suspects Untrained (NM)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | December 29, 2005 | Scott Sandlin

[CedarDave]

The explosives stolen from a West Side storage area were powerful enough to have blown shrapnel more than a half-mile along the highways the thieves drove after stealing the material, a federal agent testified Wednesday.

None of the suspects apparently had any training in dealing with explosives, said agent Gary Ainsworth of the BATF. When recovered, he said, the explosives and detonators were packed together— a distinctly bad idea with things that go bang.

An air unit helped locate the metal shed where the stolen magazines— steel boxes with wooden interiors made specifically for explosives— were being stored.

According to Ainsworth, Leslie Brown said he, David Brown and two others had stolen the explosives and driven them to Bloomfield. Questioned by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sasha Siemel, Ainsworth said the men's route out of Albuquerque took them and their purloined booty, including a Ford F-350 pickup and a trailer with no lights, along Interstates 25 and 40 and up U.S. 550 to Bloomfield. Anywhere along the line, an accident could have caused an explosion that could have sent pieces of steel shrapnel 4,000 feet in any direction, he testified.

Steve McCue, the Federal Public Defender for New Mexico, who represents Brown, and Billy Blackburn, who represents Armstrong, suggested in cross-examination that their clients were entrepreneurial scavengers looking for a way to make a buck and didn't really know what they were dealing with.

Ainsworth also said there were other stolen items at the warehouse storage site about 15 miles south of Bloomfield. "It appeared to be a chop shop, for want of a better term," Ainsworth said. Ainsworth also said statements by the defendants made it clear they knew what they were taking.

[CedarDave]

Followup to these stories:

ATF And FBI Make Arrests In Stolen Explosives ^

Papers Show How Alleged Explosives Thieves Were Caught (NM) ^

[Cvengr]

One terrorist's 'chop shop, is another's car bomb factory.

[CedarDave]

PING to you and others interested.

[R. Scott]

… the explosives and detonators were packed together…

Hope there weren’t any electric detonators.

[Balding_Eagle]

PING to you and others interested.

The correct word for this thread is BOOM, not PING!

[lesser_satan]

None of the suspects apparently had any training in dealing with explosives...the explosives and detonators were packed together

It seems to me you don't need any training, just a little common sense, to know this is a bad idea. But I guess if they had any common sense they wouldn't have stolen it in the first place.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[Squantos]

entrepreneurial scavengers looking for a way to make a buck and didn't really know what they were dealing with

So they were Sandia Lab Employees ?.......:o)

[Tijeras_Slim]

LOL!

[ASOC]

Thousands of feet of det cord AND electric caps, if you're goona go, go out with a bang, I suppose.

OTOH, a Professional (and I use that term very loosely) explosve transport truck went up in smoke this summer in Utah, so what's the difference? Insurance?

[R. Scott]

OTOH, a Professional (and I use that term very loosely) explosve transport truck went up in smoke this summer in Utah, so what's the difference? Insurance?

Even following all the regulations and safety guidelines, things happen. Usually because someone was careless either from ignorance or too much familiarity – “ I know what I’m doing, it can’t happen to me”.

[festus]

powerful enough to have blown shrapnel more than a half-mile along the highways the thieves drove after stealing the material,

Does how far the blast would throw stuff have anything to do with the road they are driving on ? Sheesh.

[elkfersupper]

Acetylene torches or plasma cutters, blasting caps, deta-sheet, C-4, and det-dord; all hooked to the same pickup in a trailer with no lights going down I-40, I-25, and NM 550 in the dead of night.

What could possibly go wrong?

[elkfersupper]

Add a few redneck roughneck rowdies with felony records (and probably an ample supply of Budweisers).

Seems like a pretty good recipe to me.

[CedarDave]

Scary, isn't it?