ATF investigating thefts of ammonium nitrate

DENVER -- Federal agents said Friday they are investigating the theft of 1,100 pounds of an explosive chemical from construction companies in Colorado and California in the past week.

Both thefts involve ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in the bomb that destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

In the first heist, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a nationwide alert Monday after eight 50-pound bags of an ammonium nitrate-based explosive vanished from the Pike View Quarry near Colorado Springs.

Then 700 pounds of an ammonium nitrate product were stolen this week from a similar business in San Diego County, Calif., ATF agent Rich Marianos said Friday.

"We're trying to check to see if it's similar or if we can rule out if it's involved in our theft," Marianos said.

The California theft from Tom C. Dyke Drilling and Blasting in Alpine, about 30 miles east of San Diego, happened Sunday or Monday, San Diego County sheriff's officials said. Thieves forced their way into a locked trailer and took 16 50-pound bags. Two of the bags have been found.

Authorities have not named any suspects in the thefts. A half-dozen homes and businesses in the Colorado Springs area have been searched.

"There really hasn't been much concrete information to go on in this case," Colorado Springs police Lt. Skip Arms said. "There's equally the possibility it was somebody who had a legitimate blasting job and didn't want to pay for the chemicals to someone with bad intentions."

Ammonium nitrate is used as fertilizer, but can become a powerful explosive when mixed with fuel oil. The government estimated about 4,800 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer was used to make the bomb that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City.

Authorities had said the material stolen in Colorado was already mixed with fuel oil and had a strong diesel fuel odor. They were not immediately able to say whether the ammonium nitrate that vanished in California was also part of a mixture.

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