Sugar Creek, Mo.-Federal charges are still pending against an unidentified individual in connection with the theft of a truck that was parked at a construction site and contained several thousand pounds of ammonium nitrate and ANFO, according to the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives office in Kansas City. “ATF’s interest is centered around the fact that ANFO was in the truck,” Mike Boxler, special agent in charge of the Kansas City field division, told Green Markets. Boxler said the suspect has been charged by the police department in Sugar Creek, located adjacent to Independence. Telephone calls to Sugar Creek police weren’t returned, but press reports said the man was being held on charges of vandalism. Boxler said his agents are still doing their investigations, and if federal charges are filed “we would be looking at theft of the blasting agent.” The truck was found in a field near U.S. 291 by a property owner who notified authorities and reportedly told investigators that he had no idea why whoever took it left it there. “We don’t know when they came in there or anything about it, because it happened during the night, and everyone was asleep,” he reported. “It’s hard to see anything back there until daylight.” Boxler didn’t know what was going on at the construction site, but confirmed that what was described as a box truck contained approximately 3,700 pounds of potentially explosive material.
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