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Two tonnes of the powerful explosive ammonium nitrate that were missing Wednesday afternoon have now been found, the RCMP in B.C. said.

“It was a clerical error and the missing bags of ammonium nitrate are now accounted for,” Sgt. Rob Vermeulen said.

Earlier Wednesday, the RCMP said the transportation company Kinder Morgan had reported a discrepancy in late December in the inventory of the powerful explosive from a storage facility in Surrey.

The missing ammonium nitrate consisted of two one-tonne bags in a 6,000-bag shipment.

“Out of an abundance of caution, it’s being investigated by the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team as well as both North Vancouver and Surrey detachments,” Vermeulen said.

Ammonium nitrate was used in both the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

“The amount is quite large. If you detonate 1,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate it would make for one heck of an explosion,” said Andre Gerolymatos, a Simon Fraser University professor and expert on terrorism.

The 2010 Winter Games could be a target for terrorists, Gerolymatos said.

“Any large event that attracts world media is a potential target for terrorists,” Gerolymatos said.

The ammonium nitrate, which was destined for the mining industry, was shipped from Alberta to North Vancouver in the fall of 2009, Vermeulen said.

It was then sent from North Vancouver to Surrey, where the discrepancy was noted and reported to police by Kinder Morgan. Vermeulen stressed that there was never any evidence of theft or criminal wrongdoing.

He said Kinder Morgan conducted an extensive inventory audit to resolve the discrepancy. Ammonium nitrate can be used as a fertilizer or as an explosive to open up mining quarries.

Since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, ammonium nitrate that is intended for use as a fertilizer is coated so that kerosene and diesel fuel cannot penetrate it, Gerolymatos said.

“It was always easy to get fertilizer. Until Oklahoma City, no one thought about fertilizer as a bomb, but [Timothy] McVeigh changed all that,” Gerolymatos said.

The missing ammonium nitrate is the non-coated variety, Gerolymatos said. “If you put kerosene on it, or diesel fuel, then kaboom.”

Kinder Morgan is a North American pipeline transportation and energy storage company that operates the Vancouver Wharves terminal in British Columbia.

In 1993, a 675-kilogram bomb killed six people and injured more than 1,000 people when it exploded under the World Trade Center.

The Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 killed 168 people and left a crater six-metres wide and 2.5-metres deep.

tsherlock@vancouversun.com
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