Agents Probing Theft of Big Cache of Bombing-Making Materials in Arizona
Investigators believe 750 pounds of ammonium nitrate, 225 pounds of dynamite, 6,000 feet of detonation cord and several blasting caps were stolen from an Arizona rock quarry this week.
Federal agents were in the rugged mountains of northern Arizona on Friday looking for evidence in the theft of the materials, which are commonly used in mining but could also be used to make a bomb. Authorities believe they were stolen sometime between late Monday and Thursday.
Ammonium nitrate was the main ingredient in the 4,800-pound device used to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.
“If someone knew what they were doing, they could do a lot of damage,” said Larry Bettendorf, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
He said the amount stolen from the flagstone quarry owned by Riverside, Calif.-based 3 Wins Mining Co. was unusual but that the theft itself was not.
“This kind of thing happens across the country all the time,” Bettendorf said.
The ATF has 11 agents investigating the theft in a remote, rocky canyon west of Flagstaff.
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