"Explosives Stolen From Phoenix Airport Have Been Found, Police Say"

Monday, September 5, 2011

Explosives missing from Phoenix airport recovered
The Associated Press


PHOENIX (AP) - Explosives that went missing from Phoenix's international
airport during a routine police training several days ago and caused
authorities to search the airport several times over the weekend were
spotted by a passing motorist sitting next to a roadside on Monday, police
said.

The explosives - two half-pound orange-colored tubes set inside a blue,
soft-sided Igloo container - were taken by an "unknown individual" Friday
afternoon from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Police had placed
the container in the public area of at the airport's Terminal 4 to train
police dogs. The area was outside security checkpoints, where there are no
restrictions on items carried into the airport, police said.

Airport operations weren't disrupted because of the disappearance, Phoenix
police Sgt. Tommy Thompson said in a statement. Police eventually concluded
that the container wasn't near the airport.

The motorist, Raymond Saiz, recognized the container from news reports when
he saw it Monday morning on a sidewalk in south Phoenix, about eight miles
away from the airport. He picked it up, saw the explosives inside and called
police.

"When I saw the orange cylinders in there, I knew that was it," he told
KSAZ-TV.

A bomb squad determined that the explosives hadn't been tampered with and
safely removed the container. Thompson said the explosives are of the same
type used in the mining industry throughout Arizona and can't be detonated
without additional equipment and some degree of expertise.

Federal officials were told of the disappearance and were assisting in the
investigation, Thompson said.

Airport spokesman Mike Sotomayor said airport officials wouldn't comment on
the incident.

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