Frederick, Md.-Frederick police have notified the FBI and other federal agencies but don’t suspect terrorists in the theft of about 4,000 pounds of bagged fertilizer in the late afternoon of Feb. 28 from the Southern States Cooperative store here. “They’re absolutely interested, but I can’t tell you what the specific response was,” reported Sgt. Jason Keckler, who is in charge of the investigation. “We’re working on some leads now but don’t have a suspect identified. (But) we don’t have any reason to believe that terrorists are involved here.” Keckler also said that while a couple of areas are being investigated no motive is indicated at this point, adding that possibly because of the economy someone may have been interested in the money. The theft, discovered Saturday night or early Sunday, was originally reported as 6,000 pounds of 19-19-19 and 2,000 pounds of urea. But Keckler said it now appears the numbers were inflated a bit, adding that it’s “much less, probably in the likelihood of half that, and in less than a hundred bags.” Also on the list was ammonium sulfate, but no ammonium nitrate because Southern States doesn’t handle that. The fertilizer was packaged mostly in 50-pound bags with red and blue Southern States logos.
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