RCMP officials have intensified their investigation into two tonnes of an explosive chemical compound that went missing, CTV News has learned.
Last month, pipeline and energy storage company Kinder Morgan contacted the RCMP to say that it couldn't account for two one-tonne bags of ammonium nitrate that had been part of a 6,000-bag shipment.
About a week later, the company said that the discrepancy was simply due to a clerical error, and RCMP officials said they were "satisfied that no product is missing."
However, this past weekend, RCMP officials said they couldn't confirm if a clerical error had, in fact, occurred and were still investigating.
Here's what CTV News has learned:
* The 6,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was manufactured in Alberta by Agrium Inc.
* It was shipped to Dyno Nobel, an explosives company, which prepared it and bagged it.
* Dyno Nobel hired one or more trucking companies to carry the explosive material across the Rockies to Kinder Morgan's North Vancouver yard.
* From there, it was shipped to a storage facility in Surrey. That's when the two bags were discovered missing.
On Friday, police asked for records from Calgary-based Agrium and Dyno Nobel, whose headquarters are in Utah.
RCMP investigators are also interviewing all the drivers who shipped the 250 truck loads of ammonium nitrate.
"We need to speak with anyone who had any contact with the actual ammonium nitrate to see if we can follow that paper trail and come up with a logical explanation as to how there's a discrepancy," said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Tim Shields.
Security expert Mark Lalonde told CTV News that if the ammonium nitrate was stolen, only a well-organized group could've pulled it off.
"If somebody did steal this that's a fairly sophisticated operation," he said.
Ammonium nitrate, commonly used as a high-nitrogen fertilizer, is sold to mining companies as an oxidizing agent for explosives. It has also been used in several terrorist attacks, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people and injured more than 600.
A compound called ANFO -- ammonium nitrate mixed with fuel or diesel oil -- is often used in improvised explosive devices or fertilizer bombs. ANFO was used in the Toronto 18 plot as well as the Oklahoma bombing.
RCMP officials stress that threat level for the upcoming Olympic Games remains low and the force does not intend to adjust it as a result of the missing chemicals.
And B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed said Tuesday he's not losing sleep over it.
"I'm sure at the end of the day we'll get to the bottom of what actually occurred here. I'm hearing mixed messages with respect to that but I'm confident ... we'll have some answers," he said.
[Source:
CTVBC]
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