Mexico seeks stolen tractor-trailer with cyanide MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Mexican police were searching Wednesday for a tractor-trailer carrying 10 tons of deadly cyanide stolen over the weekend after three armed men held up the vehicle north of Mexico City. Authorities have launched a public appeal, warning of the danger of cyanide and asking the thieves to surrender. It's unclear whether the robbers were aware that the vehicle was carrying the chemical, police said. The tractor-trailer, which was transporting the cyanide in 96 drums, was held up Friday on a stretch of highway near Ixmiquilpan in the state of Hidalgo, 150 miles north of the Mexican capital, federal police spokesman Oscar Hernandez said. The cyanide was being transported to a metals processing plant in Pachuca. The highway where the robbery occurred leads to Nuevo Laredo on the Mexico-Texas border. Investigators said they suspect that the tractor-trailer was stolen to be stripped down and sold as spare parts, and that it is being hidden outside the Hidalgo state. Cyanide, which is difficult to detect and smell, is a toxic chemical used in insecticides and the refining of gold and silver. Richard Sanchez, a spokesman for Texas state Rep. Kino Flores of Mission, said the FBI had been alerted, and agencies manning ports of entry along the Rio Grande River that borders Mexico were on the lookout for the tractor-trailer. CNN LINK
Truck found Truck Was Carrying Cyanide Updated: 4:19 p.m. EDT May 16, 2002 DALLAS -- Mexican police have found a stolen truck that had been carrying 10 tons of sodium cyanide. They say it looks like some of the cargo is missing. The truck was found about 120 miles north of Mexico City. Environmental and other Mexican officials were dispatched to the scene. The truck was stolen last week as it headed to a city near the capital. Sodium cyanide -- if inhaled or ingested -- attacks the nervous system and can cause a person to suffocate. Officials had said it was unlikely the three armed men who stole the truck Friday were plotting to use it in a terrorist attack in Mexico or in the United States. It was reportedly recovered in Pueblo, Mexico, Thursday afternoon. The truck, similiar to the one pictured here, was stolen from the state of Hidalgo, north of Mexico City. A copy of a Department of Public Safety teletype alert warned about the potentially deadly stolen cargo and the possibility it could have been on its way to Texas. Agents turned a watchful eye to Texas highways after three men with guns hijacked a trailer along a Mexican highway loaded with 100 drums of cyanide, so nasty a dose the size of a quarter could be enough to kill. The power of that potentially lethal stolen cargo had border agents on a Level One alert -- their highest emergency status. Roger Maier of U.S. Customs said, "Essentially, we're taking a hard look at every car, every truck, every pedestrian that's arriving." But experts in the trucking industry said, even with the heightened security, the deadly cargo could've been disguised. Landstar Safety's Steve Gullekson said, "They could transfer it to another truck, mark it with another marking on there, and, unless they look suspicious, nobody's gonna look at it."
GREAT NEWS.... until you get to the part where it says that some of the cargo is missing.... we need a Tina Fey sketch right now to lighten this situation up a bit!
CNN: "Hijacked truck in Mexico carrying cyanide recovered with no cargo missing, Mexican Embassy says. Details to come."
