Hundreds of Pounds of Explosives Stolen From Montana Bunker

This news is a couple days old but I could not find any mention of this via the ATS search engine.

About 559 pounds of explosives were stolen from a bunker near Red Lodge.

Now, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the Carbon County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) are asking for the public's help in the case.

In April, someone used forced entry to get into an explosives storage facility owned and operated by the U. S. Forest Service, according to a press release from the ATF.

The storage facility is located about two miles south of Red Lodge.

Various emulsion-type explosives, explosive cast boosters and detonating cord were stolen.

Sample photographs of the items that were stolen are shown above.

"The theft of explosives is a top investigative priority for ATF. We are asking for the public's help in our effort to apprehend and convict those responsible. We are confident that someone can help identify a suspect and we encourage them to call us," ATF spokesman Ken Bray said.

A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered to anyone who provides information that leads to the recovery of the explosives and to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the theft.

www.kxlf.com...

As soon as I read this article a few questions came to mind.

1. Who stole these explosives?

2. What are their intentions?

3. How does a person/people manage to steal 559 pounds of explosives without being caught?

There are plenty of other questions that come to mind but those were the main ones for me.

Many citizens of theUnited States are still recovering/living in fear due to the Boston incident regardless of their opinions of what really happened that day. Now, 559 pounds of explosives and equipment to help detonate these explosives have gone missing.

There are many possibilities as to why these items may have been stolen such as to be sold on the black market, for personal use such as on a construction site, and unfortunately these could have been stolen by someone with a more sinister agenda such as a terrorist plot.

That being said, I find it almost impossible for such a large amount of explosives to go missing unless the thief/thieves had inside help. I am not saying that it's impossible to steal these items without inside help, but very unlikely in my opinion.

If these explosives were stolen for use in a terrorist plot it leads me to wonder what would their target be? If there is a plot I would imagine that it may be used on local infrastructure such as oil pipelines, nuclear reactors, dams...etc...

I performed a quick search and could not find any nuclear reactors in Montana, there are oil pipelines, and plenty of dams and resevoirs.

But there is always the possibility that if these were stolen for a sinister purpose that the items could easily be transferred to another area to be used on different targets.

Am I the only one to think that a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest is a bit low?

I would figure that they would be willing to offer more money to track down these missing items, but hey, logic isn't always present, especially when it comes to the organizations involved in the "search" for these items.

The "conspiracy nut" in me wonders if there are any drills planned in Montana or surrounding areas in the near future...most of you will know what I am implying with this hypothetical observation

Hopefully they find the culprits and reclaim these items, but until then people should keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

There are sites which I'm told have nuclear weapons in great falls. I have no idea if a minuteman has nuks on it but a resident of Great Falls told me they do have nuclear weapons.

www.nukewatchinfo.org...

That's a lot of explosives. Kind of crazy that the Boston bombers were originally going to strike on July 4 and now these come up missing. I'm not saying that they are connected in any way, but it is a lot of explosives and someone could definitely make a serious statement with them.

Doesnt sound like the feds were very concerned with it being stolen given how they were stored and given the $5K reward it doesnt sound like they're too concerned with recovering them either.

Evidently these types of explosives can be stuffed into rock and may be like jelly. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. Seems that lots of things are being blown up the last couple of months or at least in the media more so let's hope this was some dumb kids who are thinking 4th of July and not another planned terrorist plot. I don't see this being a construction worker who needs it for a job site or even someone who would sell on the black market. I'm sure they are traceable. It feels like mischievous kids or a rogue intent. Maybe the USFS shouldn't leave stuff like this around unsupervised or more well locked up. Or they didn't feel it was a highly dangerous amount so weren't too worried about it? Good find on the info though.

Originally posted by SpaDe_
That's a lot of explosives. Kind of crazy that the Boston bombers were originally going to strike on July 4 and now these come up missing. I'm not saying that they are connected in any way, but it is a lot of explosives and someone could definitely make a serious statement them.

I was unaware that the Boston bomgers originally planned to strike on July 4th so I thank you for providing that information and helping potentially conect some dots.

All my theories on this incident in Montana are purely speculation but a member sent me an interesting link to a blog via U2U in reference to the missing items in Boston. I asked them if they would like to remain anonymous or have me give them their credit where it's due but have not yet received a response. I will post their link and edit this post if they respond.

They did claim this source to be credible, I found it to be interesting but cannot vouch for the source.

americanholocaustcoming.blogspot.com...

So what kind of damage could this amount and type do?

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Doesnt sound like the feds were very concerned with it being stolen given how they were stored and given the $5K reward it doesnt sound like they're too concerned with recovering them either.

I agree that they do not seem very concerned, but in my opinion that is not a valid reason to dismiss this as unimportant. Perhaps the Feds are trying to downplay the importance of this to save face, just a thought. I also believe that it is careless on their behalf to allow this type of stuff to be stored in such a manner where anyone can just break in and steal the items, and how did the thieves know that these exact items were stored there? Maybe there is a simple answer to my last question that I have overlooked.

Originally posted by antar
So what kind of damage could this amount and type do?

ANFO is an emulsion type explosive I think.

200-500 pound ANFO blasts:

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Syncronicity going on in here. This was the first site I came across when looking up what emulsion explosives were (one I chose to click on). I had no idea we had nuks missing too so got some info from it. Also didn't think 4th of July and link that to Boston but it came to mind when thinking of why kids would steal something like this (in the unlikely chance it was kids). If someone stole them without negative intent, they will show up. If dont show up it means, to me, that the people who know won't fold for 5K.

Considering the fact that explosives can be used by terrorists, not to mention they're deadly in the wrong hands, you would think the security on bunkers across the U.S. would be tight. I would also think security cameras would be the norm. Fail.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed

3. How does a person/people manage to steal 559 pounds of explosives without being caught?

Probably unguarded, out in the middle of nowhere, and warning labels saying "DANGER... EXPLOSIVES INSIDE!"

reply to post by WeRpeons


Your theory is certainly possible, but as WeRpeons mentioned, why would items such as these be left unguarded, and I certainly hope there were not any tell tale indicators such as you mentioned.

"Unguarded exposives...take as you please" should be the what sign reads (sarcasm)

I'd imagine that its probably been known for years that various explosives+ required gear are kept there and is pretty much an open secret to the locals, now is this explosive and its gear restricted in sale? or can someone just drive a few hundred miles away and slap it on ebay for some easy beer money? and if i knew where there was some free explosives i'd sure help myself to them to sort out my back garden as well

reply to post by SpaDe_


That is a lot of explosives, but don't be confused by the weight of the explosives and the explosive weight of them. For example, if you have an explosive item that weighs 10 pounds, there may only be .75 pounds of actual explosive content. A 1000 pound laser guided bomb has 450 pounds of explosive content. the NEW or Net Explosive Weight is what is important, and these items don't have much at all, HOWEVER they can be used in conjunction with other more powerful explosives, especially the Det Cord that was stolen. Most Det Cord is a Category 1 material which should be under high security, so either this Det Gord in the story isn't the more volatile type or they were in gross violation of explosive handling and storage regulations. Also, 1.1 class explosives are the mass detonating type that could kill a lot of people. these items look to be 1.4 which isn't really a big deal. The fireworks you buy for 4th of July are 1.4.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


1 red lodge is a pretty isolated area and we have lots of big old dump trucks in state so moving that much quickly and quietly does not suprise me as we have more deer then humans in this state.

2 as far as who stole them no idea on that one but i would assume they would be up to no good with them as that quantity of explosives can take out a variety of things that could cause chaos,as you stated power plants bridges and other large public buildings coudl all be targets for this quantiy of explosives

and yeah the reward does seem kind of small but that is a lot of money to some of the people out here but does seem waaay to small in my opinion

as far as drills i am unaware of any planned but if any nut job is planning any thing they would do well to remember that a very large portion of our population is not just armed but heavily armed and we are a population of hunters not to mention what happens if they try to screw with the actual natives.

hopefully they find these people and the forestry service decides to boost its security as just up and loosing 500+ pounds of explosives rarely goes over well to superiors

What interests me is this "bunker" it was stolen from.

Is this just some shack on a dead-end road with a padlock on the door, or is this a small underground storage location with a bit better security?

reply to post by Dianec


50% of the U.S. nuke warheads are here in montana, i personally know where
several are, and have been as far as the fence, some are seen from normal roads
some you only see if you hike in, private drives to get to.

Darn someone stole all that good stuff and i didnt get any? beings montana,
probably some group of guys just gearing up for whats coming would be my guess.
But could be terrorist.

To op, no nuke reactors in montana that i know of either, but their are a few in Wa that
are less than 250 miles or so from the border.



sheepslayer247 being in or near red lodge, yup, probably was just a cement shack at the
side or end of the road with a pad lock, i've seen several myself and that is exactly what they
are, they even post them as explosives and do not trespass. For most people in the state,
that is enough to keep them out, montana is not like most states we are still kind of years
behind, theft is low compared to most and people here generally respect others property.
if the sign says 'keep out' most people do, out of respect. Normally that is enough to keep
people away. Sadly, looks like the rest of the world is invading into our space and we are
going to have to start more strict measures to keep people honest. kind of sad in a way.
we are slowly loosing what makes our state great, where a persons word actually means something.

The weight is equivilent to 6 bags of cement
which would take ummm,
about 1 and a half minutes to load into a car trunk or pick up, or even on to a four wheeler
maybe they used a "cart" to haul it to the vehicle
its a "small job" to physically steal it...

reply to post by sheepslayer247


if its like most old explosives depots ive seen its problay a big concrete building with a steel door out in the middle of no where most likely relying on security cameras and whatnot not guards to keep the stuff from being stolen and their are not to many cops in montana compared to alot of other states despite having several branches depending on what area you are in (border patrol up north for example or tribal police) my town for example kalispell only has about 6-10 local cops and what ever staties/highway patrol are in the area at a given time,so its not like we can just mobilize hundreds of officers to go look for these people.

heck if if was the natives or members of tribes who took them finding them becomes much harder do to jurisdictional issues but i for the life of me cant think of one tribe that would want to steal/use explosives to harm any one in state(not like they have militas or whatnot)

so i guess we just gotta wait and hope these explosives dont end up in the next incident to happen in this country

www.panoramio.com... picture of a rather dilapadated explosives storage shed.....