Free Republic

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...

Thieves who stole 400 pounds of explosives from a location west of Albuquerque also apparently took a Wells Cargo trailer used to store them and a truck to haul them, according to a papers unsealed in federal court this morning. The advertised $50,000 reward led a confidential informant to a lawyer's office in Durango on Friday with information about the stolen items and the men who took them, an affidavit reveals. But the documents failed to shed any light on how the thieves knew about the explosives or what they planned to do with them. Information from a confidential source...

Albuquerque, NM (AHN) - Special agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recovered about 400 pounds of explosives stolen from an ATF licensee after arresting three men in connection with the theft. All the explosives and explosives materials, reported stolen on December 18, were found, including 150 pounds of commercial plastic explosives known commonly as C-4 and 250 pounds of sheet explosives. The suspects, Leslie Brown, 44, David Kendrick Brown, 49, and Eric Wayne Armstrong, 32, have been transported to Albuquerque and Denver, Colorado, for appearances scheduled on Tuesday before U.S. magistrates. ATF and the Federal...