I thought this happened in Houston ---- I’m surprised there haven’t been any major news stories on this yet. FBI Issues Alert for Stolen Propane Tankers SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - FBI agents in Texas issued a nationwide alert on Tuesday for two stolen propane tanker trucks, laden with thousands of gallons of the volatile liquefied gas. A San Antonio gas company discovered the trucks, one carrying 3,000 gallons and the other carrying 2,500 gallons, had been stolen after employees returned on Tuesday from the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, the FBI said. The thefts could have occurred as early as May 25, FBI Agent Patrick Patterson said. "Propane is one of the elements that terrorists have been trained on, so we're very concerned about it," Patterson told a news conference. The FBI was concerned the trucks or the propane could be used as a bomb, but Patterson said there was no indication that was the purpose of the theft. The FBI and San Antonio police said propane thefts were common in south Texas, given its proximity to northern Mexico. Propane is a commonly used fuel there, and a professional propane theft ring was operating in San Antonio as recently as last year, San Antonio Police Chief Albert Ortiz said. A tanker was converted into a truck bomb for the Khobar Towers apartment bombing in Dharan, Saudi Arabia, nearly eight years ago, he said. The June 25, 1996, explosion killed 19 U.S. Air Force personnel and wounded 372 other people. Link
Man that is scary that stuff like this can happen. Where is the security surrounding things like this. You'd think after 9-11 that pretty much every angle would be covered.
They didn't up the official terror alert level. They just mentioned some stuff about possible attacks this summer (which some said was old news).
Are you going to dedicate agents to drive around the country following each and every gas tanker cross country? It would be very helpful, but not very realistic.
No, but you'd think there would be some sort of security measure to at least keep tabs on them. I guess it's no big deal to leave a a couple ton explosive unprotected for Joe Terrorist to just help himself.
So someone, anyone, who had the means to hijack a plane (in the worst of worst case scenarios) couldn't freaking detect and remove a lojack transmitter? Seems a bit naive, to think that LoJack will save us. I'm in the Hank Hill camp, as well...
The one thing that can never go anywhere is the propane or quite possibly the tank. Maybe they can lace the propane with a tracing agent. Or the tank with something.
It doesn't take a whole lot of technical skills to hijack a plane. I would think chop-shop car thieves would be much more adept locating and removing Lojack than terrorists. Besides, if you could do something like put it at the bottom of the propane tank, they'd have to empty the truck before removing it. Seems to me it has potential. Anyway, the theory that it was stolen to be sold in Mexico seems like the much more likely scenario.
That is some scary stuff, but I thought of Hank Hill when I saw this as well... "Propane and Propane Accessories"...
