Missing ôfertilizerö cargo not dangerous, but still raises stink
Cargo from a truck stolen in Southern California Monday caused a local stir with law enforcement agencies that initially were told the truck was carrying 10,000 pounds of fertilizer like that used in the Oklahoma City bombing 12 years ago.
The driver, on his way from Texas to Northern California, had pulled over at a rest stop near Griffith Park Monday, according to Los Angeles police. When the driver returned five hours later, he found his truck missing.
When police arrived, the driver told them he was carrying five tons of fertilizer, or twice as much as Timothy McVeigh set off in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, in a blast that killed 168 people.
Police immediately issued a release to the media asking for help from the public in locating the stolen truck. Hours later, and confirming some fears, the truck showed up empty near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Shortly after the release was issued, however, the police department's commercial crimes unit contacted the shipping company and found out that the real cargo was a little less dangerous — 28 pallets of indoor-outdoor 'shop-vac' vacuums. The cargo remains missing.
