Replies

Posting article which I don't like to do, but Mercury is a sub:

Admission reported in theft of explosives

MORE ARRESTS POSSIBLE IN CASE

By Thaai Walker

Mercury News

The man charged with stealing 200 pounds of high explosives from a San Mateo County munitions depot admitted to federal agents that he participated in the heist, according to an affidavit filed Friday.

But authorities indicated others may have helped Michael Alexander Allan in the theft of dangerous explosives from a bunker shared by the San Mateo County sheriff, San Francisco police and FBI. More arrests may be coming, said Marti McKee, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The eight-page affidavit details how the scheme unraveled, but authorities still have not revealed a motive. A friend of Allan's told investigators he had changed the locks on two storage lockers she rents at the Jackson Street Mini Storage in Hayward.

On July 4, the woman, who is not named in the affidavit, saw Allan and a man identified only as ``Dean'' moving things into the lockers. She had known Allan for 10 years and let him store his property there; he had no permanent home and had been in and out of prison on parole violations for the past several years.

When she saw a newspaper story Wednesday about the stolen explosives, she got suspicious and asked Allan to meet her that night at the Food Maxx parking lot, near Home Depot in Union City.

Police will not say whether the woman tipped them off. But when the woman and Allan returned to a van he had been driving with some of the stolen items inside, officers moved in, according to the affidavit.

Investigators found the majority of the stolen explosives in the Hayward lockers. On Thursday, according to the affidavit, Allan told investigators about another storage locker on San Leandro Boulevard about a mile from Network Associates Coliseum, where they found more of the stolen material.

``We now believe we've got them all,'' McKee said.

Agents had found the bulk of the contraband -- which included 30 to 35 pounds of C-4 plastic explosives, 800 to 900 blasting caps, 114 pounds of binary explosives -- earlier in the week.

Authorities say they have ruled out terrorism, but have not explained a motive for the heist.

Allan, 46, has three prior felony convictions for auto theft and burglary, according to the affidavit. Family members said he had long been troubled by drug and alcohol problems.

Sporting a goatee and dressed in a white jail suit, Allan made a brief appearance in an Oakland federal courtroom Friday, speaking only to inform the judge he needed his glasses to read the charges.

He faces two felony counts: possession of stolen explosive materials that have been shipped or transported in interstate commerce and being an ex-convict in possession of explosives. Some of the munitions stolen from the bunker had been manufactured in Louisiana, according to the affidavit.

Each charge carries a 10-year maximum sentence and a $250,000 fine, although authorities said Friday that more charges may be forthcoming. Investigators also said there may be additional arrests but refused to talk about potential suspects.

Allan did not enter a plea on Friday. He remains in federal custody and is scheduled to return to court on Wednesday for a bail hearing.

Allan's lawyer, assistant U.S. public defender Joyce Leavitt, and federal prosecutor Doug Sprague both refused to comment.

Authorities have said that the location of the bunker near Crystal Springs reservoir was a well-kept secret, but the storage facilities were actually visible from a nature trail that opened last August, said Joe Naras, land and resource manager for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The commission owns the land.

``You can see them, but they're pretty nondescript,'' he said of the explosives bunkers.

The trail is fenced off, except during guided nature tours three days a week, but not on weekends. That is when authorities believe the heist occurred. In the 11 months since officials cut the ribbon on the trail, the tours have drawn a total of 2,169 participants, according to a log on the public utility commission's Web site.

Sgt. Michael Peck, leader of San Mateo County's bomb squad, said he did not think it would be possible for someone walking the trail to realize what was in the steel storage containers, since they were unmarked.