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CNN Live Today
Border Patrol Agents On Lookout for Cyanide
Aired May 15, 2002 - 14:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Border patrol agents in Texas said to be on high alert today for a hijacked truck containing 10 tons of cyanide. The truck was commandeered at gunpoint in central Mexico about five days ago. CNN's Harris Whitbeck, our Mexico City bureau chief, tracking this story. He joins us by telephone.
Harris, what more do we know on this?
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN MEXICO CITY BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Bill. The information here is really sketchy. What we can confirm is that the truck was carrying ten tons of sodium cyanide. This is a chemical compound that is usually used in the processing of gold and silver.
And the truck was hijacked on Friday. It was transporting this chemical in the state of Hidalgo, about 150 miles north of Mexico City. Apparently transporting this to a metal processing plant in the same area.
Police in Hidalgo state say that they believe it is unlikely that the three armed men who stole this truck knew what it was carrying. They believe that they were interested in the truck so that they could strip it down and sell it as spare parts. They have issued an appeal asking the thieves to basically just leave the cargo, leave these ten tons of cyanide somewhere where it could be found, and trying to tell them how dangerous it is.
Again, they are not treating this as an action that could be linked to a possible terrorist attack. They insist that they believe this is basically the theft of the truck and not what was inside of it -- Bill.
HEMMER: Harris, certainly it raises a lot of eyebrows when you mention that word cyanide. And you talked about the dangers. Are officials saying how it could be used in near term to cause that danger?
WHITFIELD: Well, they say that the danger is that they dump it once they realize what it is, or once they realize that they don't need it for their purposes. They could just dump it and it could then cause severe environmental problems.
The fact that it's ten tons of cyanide makes it extremely dangerous. Cyanide affects people's respiratory systems. And if it's released into the environment, it could cause very, very severe problems to the population in the area where it would be dumped.
HEMMER: Indeed it could. Harris, thank you. Harris Whitbeck by telephone there in Mexico.
Long-haul truckers well aware how many miles can be travelled in five days time, and rules an regulations can be side-stepped along the way. More now from Jeff Napshin (ph) of our affiliate KTBC, out of Austin, Texas, on this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF NAPSHIN (PH), KTBC REPORTER (voice-over): Trucker Steve Cubby has been driving the roads of America for more than quarter- century.
STEVE CUBBY, TRUCKER: With the amount of fuel we've got on, I can leave Texas and, in 24 hours, I'm setting in California.
NAPSHIN: That's what worries him about this missing truck. Reports from Mexico say it was stolen at gunpoint last week, with a cargo of nearly 100 barrels of cyanide. Covey fears it could easily cross the border into Texas.
COVEY: If you've got enough money.
NAPSHIN: Really, it's money?
COVEY: Money. It always comes down to who -- if they pay somebody off, it's gone.
NAPSHIN (voice-over): Truck driver Pat Bandy says every big rig is stamped with a vehicle identification number. But too often those serial numbers are torn off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any truck maker can tell you where all those places are. And a guy that's out there stealing trucks knows exactly where all those are. And they're going to scratch them all off.
NAPSHIN: Cyanide is a crystal-like powder used by industrial companies in chemical reactions. It is poisonous, causing a violent death. Experts say the most likely mass attack would be in our drinking water supply.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before people started getting poisoned, the fish would float. You would have markers that would tell you that something bad has happened.
NAPSHIN: But Professor Combs says it takes a lot of cyanide to make you sick. Meanwhile the Department of Public Safety isn't talking. And no one knows for sure if this is a simple robbery, or the beginning of a terrorist attack.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Again, that story from our affiliate in Austin, Texas. The FBI telling CNN there is no reason to believe the cyanide truck has entered the U.S. And for that reason, the FBI has no jurisdiction at the moment to investigate that matter.
We'll stay on, though, and let you know what we find out out of Mexico.
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