Pyros

When I went to NM Tech, and lived on-campus in West Hall, my next-door-neighbor was a secretive explosives hobbyist with Confederate leanings. "Rebel Yell" always made sure to ground his door key when he unlocked his room, so there would be no stray sparks. Late at night, I would stare at the cinder-block wall, and wonder when I would find that wall in my face.

Anyway, I was reminded of those days by this story:

About 400 pounds of explosive material was stolen from a research facility in New Mexico, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed today.

The theft was discovered Sunday night by local authorities.

ATF agents are investigating the large theft from Cherry Enginering, a company owned by Chris Cherry, for decades the senior explosives scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.

Also, 2,500 detonators were missing from a storage explosive container, or magazine, in the name of Cherry Engineering.

...A special agent at ATF said the incident was unusual because such high-powered material was targeted.

One hundred and fifty pounds of the plastic explosive compound C-4 and 250 pounds of undetectable "sheet explosives" — a DuPont flexible explosive material that can be hidden in books and letters — were stolen in the burglary, which also included the theft of blasting caps.

Burglars used a torch bar to break into the explosives containers and remove the material.

The missing material could potentially make numerous bombs.

Postscript - I sent an E-Mail with a link regarding this theft to "Old Techie", speculating that "Rebel Yell" might have been involved, and "Old Techie" responds:

Nah, ("Rebel Yell") had enough honor not to STEAL stuff. Even psychopaths have some standards...