Posted on 05/21/2007 9:50:09 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
A tractor-trailer that was stolen while the driver took a break has been recovered, but authorities were still searching Monday for the five tons of fertilizer it was carrying.
Sheriff's deputies recovered the empty big-rig just before midnight Sunday, less than 12 hours after it was taken from a stretch of road used as a popular rest stop for truckers.
The driver had parked in the industrial area near Griffith Park Sunday afternoon. When he returned about five hours later, the truck was gone, said Lt. David Young of the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Division. The truck turned up about 20 miles away in Carson.
The theft raised concerns because certain types of fertilizer can be used to make explosives.
Officer Martha Garcia, a police department spokeswoman, said investigators believe the missing fertilizer does not contain anything that could be used to make an explosive, but they were taking precautions
"Because of the contents we are treating it with extra sensitivity," Young said.
Authorities described the fertilizer as commercial merchandise, packaged in sacks, for shipment to a Home Depot in Tracy, Calif. The truck was coming from Texas.
"It's being considered as a plain theft. It's being handled by the commercial crimes division," Garcia said.
Timothy McVeigh combined 5,000 pounds of fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate with auto-racing fuel to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The blast killed 168 people.
My understanding of fertilizer explosives is that the stuff destined for Home Depot won’t do the job. You need at least 32% Ammonium Nitrate and that’s not sold over the counter at a box store. Maybe someone else knows a little better, but I doubt there’s any potential here for terrorism.
Thanks. I haven’t driven a rig since the mid 1980’s. I remember the four hour rule for rest....but didn’t know if that had changed.
So it does.
14 hours on with 11 hrs driving time within the 14 and stop for 10. You can drive 11 hrs and work three for a total of 14 which is physically close to impossible. There is no mandatory rest when you start your 14 hrs.
You have to rest a certain amount of time out of each 24 hours you drive. I forget what the time is but I would think that is what he was doing. If he doesn’t do it he loses his license.
LOL! Then it's probably steer manure, not ammonium nitrate! ;)
ammoniawho what? oh, please, asking a journalist nowadays
what is the true story that requires some sort of
“science” knowledge and getting it, is more than a miracle
, there is a better chance of recovering what was stolen
than getting a 100% true report.
Maybe they’ve learned how to extract the ammonium nitrate
from the mix, might take a few chemical steps, then viola.
Here’s a thought. What percentage of Amonium nitrate does this type of fertilizer have? Any at all? If it does it may be possible to take enough out of 10,000 pounds to make a fair sized bomb. I would think you could leach it out of the fertilizer if it contained any.
Now ammonium nitrate fertilizer is out there and is widely used by commercial farms. It's just not sold at your local Home Depot. If a terrorist were looking to obtain it I think it would be far easier to steal or buy it from a commercial farm or agriculture depot than to try to make it out of something that most likely has no potential to explode.
No doubt next we will read about the great seed packet heist.
Most of these truck have “sleepers”.
Some of them have sleepers, but some of them don’t. I wouldn’t even go so far as to say most. Besides it is a moot point. He wasn’t in the truck therefore it most likely didn’t have a sleeper.
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