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Police Seize 300 Pounds of Stolen Plastic Explosive

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Associated Press

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.

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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.

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