ST. GEORGE, Utah, March 10 (UPI) -- Authorities in the southwestern United States were on the lookout Saturday for a large cache of explosives that disappeared from an Arizona mine.
St. George, Utah, police told The New York Times that dozens of 30-pound bags of ammonium nitrate were stolen in two incidents at a desert mining site just across the state line.
Ammonium nitrate was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing and investigators aren't ruling out either terrorists or thrill-seeking youths.
"This investigation is about who would want it and who would need it," said Lori Dyer, the agent in charge of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms office in Salt Lake City. Dyer added that ammonium nitrate can also be used as a fertilizer and in construction.
The Times said authorities believe the thieves came from the area around St. George where the boundaries of Utah, Arizona and Nevada come together.
