Arrests in Theft of Explosives at Storage Site

Dec. 23, 2005 — -- Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested four suspects in theft of 400 pounds of high-powered plastic explosives in New Mexico last weekend, ABC News has learned.

The ATF believes they have recovered all of the explosives but officials caution it will take some time for them to be certain.

The suspects are not terrorists and are believed to have no connection to terror groups, ATF officials say. ABCNEWS reported on Monday that officials were investigating the large theft from Cherry Engineering, a company owned by Chris Cherry, a scientist at Sandia National Labs.

The material was stolen from a bunker owned by a bomb expert who works at a national research lab outside Albuquerque, N.M.

ABC News was told it was one of the most significant thefts of high-power explosives ever in the United States. The theft was discovered Sunday night by local authorities. The thieves used blowtorches to cut through thick steel walls at the bunker, authorities told ABC News.

The missing explosives included 150 pounds of what is known as C-4 plastic, or "sheet explosive," which can be shaped and molded and is often used by terrorists and military operatives.

"It is a very dangerous material, we want to keep this off the streets," Cherry told ABC News shortly after the theft was reported.

Also, 2,500 detonators were missing from a storage explosive container, or magazine, in a bunker owned by Cherry Engineering.

The theft was one of the largest reported cases from a facility in the United States in the last decade ending 2004. During that time, a total of about 1,000 pounds was reported stolen from government facilities in 14 reported incidents.