Police Seize 300 Pounds of Stolen Plastic Explosive

More than 300 pounds of a powerful plastic explosive that had been stolen from a mine was seized in a raid by agents who posed as would-be buyers for the material, authorities said.

Five people were arrested Friday night in the raid on a motel where agents had rented rooms to arrange the bogus purchase, authorities said.

There was enough explosive, known as C-3 or Tovex, to blow up a 3-block area, said police in this community of 50,000 about 45 miles north of Denver.

Seize Ammunition

After the arrests, authorities went to the Ft. Collins home of one of the suspects, where they seized armor-piercing rifle rounds, thousands of rounds of ammunition, an AK-47 rifle, hollow-point revolver rounds and homemade bullets designed to pierce bulletproof vests, police said.

Agents also confiscated a number of handguns, switch-blade knives, military flak jackets, a scope-mounted AR-15, described as a civilian version of the military M-16 rifle, 2,000 blasting caps and a large amount of detonation cord.

Books and magazines about terrorism and survival tactics also were found, Longmont police Sgt. Carl McIntyre said.