A Case For the Missing Fertilizer
Recently the world has been experiencing a rash of thefts that center around common but dangerous farm chemical fertilizers.
Please note, that I stress chemical based fertilizer as opposed to the "good ole" Elsie the cow type.
A while back there was a complete tractor and trailer which was stolen out west as the driver took a short break.
The empty rig was recovered but the five tons of fertilizer still remand missing.
Another theft was discovered in Frederick Maryland recently where it was reported that four tons of fertilizer had been stolen from a local Southern States farm supply store.
In this case it was also documented that 2,000 pounds of urea as well as 6,000 pounds of another fertilizer are also missing.
It is not merely America that is seeing this increase in fertilizer thief's but also in the European theater as well.
Fertilizer thieves are active in France, Great Britain and just about every major city in the world.
Could it be that something is adrift here and we should be especially alert to any strange occurrences that may take place? I would like to explain a few facts to you about fertilizers and the creation of damaging explosives.
Fertilizer security has become a major concern to the FBI, Homeland security and local law enforcement agencies ever since the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
How well we remember the horror spread by Timothy McVeigh when he combined approximately 5,000 pounds of fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate with common diesel fuel.
This atrocious blast killed 168 innocent people.
Or what about the fertilizer bombing which killed 62 people in Istanbul Turkey.
Let's face it folks it doesn't take a rocket scientist to make explosives from fertilizer.
Any high school chemistry student could easily fabricate an effective explosive from a chemical fertilizer, newspaper, Cotton and diesel fuel.
I won't go into any details on this however, it isn't hard to do.
Generally there are two major reasons why someone would want to obtain fertilizer other then for the farmer's field.
Fertilizer is readily an active component of both explosives and drug manufacture.
I will cover these two areas briefly.
Ammonium nitrate is a powerful explosive when mixed in a specific manner.
When used legally in such tasks as construction or farming there is no problem but we are witnessing a number of illegal purposes in our society today.
Urea is another farm bi-product that can create a very unstable explosive which is actually less stable but more powerful then ordinary nitroglycerine.
What this amounts to is if a farmer uses these products in their work they have to ensure that they are properly safeguarded.
It is vital that farmers see these items on a daily basis and upon noticing that they have disappeared they should immediately notify the proper authorities.
Now let's move on the drug issue.
Common fertilizer is an active component that is used to manufacture certain illegal drugs such as methamphetamine.
The fertilizer in question is anhydrous ammonia.
A very good drug chemist can in fact transform urea, liquid UAN solutions, ammonium nitrate or for that matter any nitrogen based compound into a useable product for their illegal activities.
Needless to say since anhydrous ammonia is the easiest of the mentioned products to use it remains in high demand by the drug chemists.
In view of all the recent thefts of fertilizers I would recommend that everyone keep alert for suspicious people who may be out to purchase or steal anhydrous ammonia.
Immediately report any discovered thefts to the proper authorities.
I think that these are times that we really need to be extra vigilant.
Copyright @ 2009 Joseph Parish
Please note, that I stress chemical based fertilizer as opposed to the "good ole" Elsie the cow type.
A while back there was a complete tractor and trailer which was stolen out west as the driver took a short break.
The empty rig was recovered but the five tons of fertilizer still remand missing.
Another theft was discovered in Frederick Maryland recently where it was reported that four tons of fertilizer had been stolen from a local Southern States farm supply store.
In this case it was also documented that 2,000 pounds of urea as well as 6,000 pounds of another fertilizer are also missing.
It is not merely America that is seeing this increase in fertilizer thief's but also in the European theater as well.
Fertilizer thieves are active in France, Great Britain and just about every major city in the world.
Could it be that something is adrift here and we should be especially alert to any strange occurrences that may take place? I would like to explain a few facts to you about fertilizers and the creation of damaging explosives.
Fertilizer security has become a major concern to the FBI, Homeland security and local law enforcement agencies ever since the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
How well we remember the horror spread by Timothy McVeigh when he combined approximately 5,000 pounds of fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate with common diesel fuel.
This atrocious blast killed 168 innocent people.
Or what about the fertilizer bombing which killed 62 people in Istanbul Turkey.
Let's face it folks it doesn't take a rocket scientist to make explosives from fertilizer.
Any high school chemistry student could easily fabricate an effective explosive from a chemical fertilizer, newspaper, Cotton and diesel fuel.
I won't go into any details on this however, it isn't hard to do.
Generally there are two major reasons why someone would want to obtain fertilizer other then for the farmer's field.
Fertilizer is readily an active component of both explosives and drug manufacture.
I will cover these two areas briefly.
Ammonium nitrate is a powerful explosive when mixed in a specific manner.
When used legally in such tasks as construction or farming there is no problem but we are witnessing a number of illegal purposes in our society today.
Urea is another farm bi-product that can create a very unstable explosive which is actually less stable but more powerful then ordinary nitroglycerine.
What this amounts to is if a farmer uses these products in their work they have to ensure that they are properly safeguarded.
It is vital that farmers see these items on a daily basis and upon noticing that they have disappeared they should immediately notify the proper authorities.
Now let's move on the drug issue.
Common fertilizer is an active component that is used to manufacture certain illegal drugs such as methamphetamine.
The fertilizer in question is anhydrous ammonia.
A very good drug chemist can in fact transform urea, liquid UAN solutions, ammonium nitrate or for that matter any nitrogen based compound into a useable product for their illegal activities.
Needless to say since anhydrous ammonia is the easiest of the mentioned products to use it remains in high demand by the drug chemists.
In view of all the recent thefts of fertilizers I would recommend that everyone keep alert for suspicious people who may be out to purchase or steal anhydrous ammonia.
Immediately report any discovered thefts to the proper authorities.
I think that these are times that we really need to be extra vigilant.
Copyright @ 2009 Joseph Parish