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American Morning
Airline Uniforms, Cyanide Stolen in Separate Truck Thefts
Aired May 16, 2002 - 09:03 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: "Up Front" this morning, the White House is confirming that weeks before September 11 President Bush was warned about the possibility of an airline hijacking. Meanwhile, the search is on for ten tons of cyanide stolen in Mexico and some missing airline uniforms in Kansas City.
We are now joined by Harris Whitbeck in Mexico City, Patty Davis in Washington. Harris, we're going to start with you this morning. What is the latest information authorities have on the stolen truck and, more importantly, it's cargo -- good morning.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN MEXICO CITY BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Paula.
The federal police here have no new leads on the whereabouts of that truck or its contents. The truck was stolen on Friday near the town of Ixmiquilpan, and that's about 150 miles north of Mexico City on the main highway. That connects Mexico City with Nuevo Laredo on the Mexico-Texas border.
The authorities -- mostly the federal police -- have been patrolling the entire federal highway system here in Mexico looking for that truck. But so far, no information on where it might be. We spoke to the company that owned the cyanide -- the 10 tons of cyanide that were in that truck. The company Degusa Mexico (ph) says that they agree with the police in thinking that the people who stole that truck were interested in the truck itself and not in its contents.
Police believe that the thieves do not know that the cargo is as deadly as it is. And they have launched a very public appeal on local radio and television stations in that area asking the thieves to at least tell the police where that cargo might be to avoid that they dump it. If they dump it, it would cause severe environmental damage.
Again, police here are operating on the premise that this theft so far is not related to any possible terrorist attack. But they are very concerned about the environmental damage that might be caused if these 10 tons of cyanide are dumped somewhere -- Paula.
ZAHN: Harris, can you clear up some of the confusion of where that truck was supposed to be going in the first place?
WHITBECK: It was going from the city of Pachuca, which is north of Mexico City, to another town where -- it's a heavy mining area. Cyanide is used in the processing of metals, most notably silver and gold. And the cyanide was being transported to a metal refinery plant somewhere in that area.
ZAHN: All right. Harris Whitbeck, thanks for that live update from Mexico City.
We are going to now turn our attention to our Washington D.C. Bureau. That's where we find Patty Davis so she can give us some information on this other story now -- good morning, Patty.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well the FBI says that it has no suspects, no leads in that truck heist in Kansas City. It belongs to the Cintas Uniform Company and was stolen out of the parking lot two weeks ago. Now the truck was recovered the next day, but the uniforms hanging inside were not. They are still missing.
The real worry here: those uniforms were airport workers, ramp workers, ground crews, baggage handlers for three different airlines. Could they be used by terrorists to imitate airport employees and gain access to airport grounds? Now the FBI is downplaying the significance of the heist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't believe that the uniforms were stolen to be used to gain illegal access into a restrictive facility like the airport. Everything that we determined is consistent with someone stealing a truck to get the cargo to resell or to put on the black market for monetary purposes.
We don't believe and there's no indication that these uniforms were stolen by terrorists or anyone that's trying to do anything to airplanes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIS: Now the FBI saying that that truck was on the edge of the company's parking lot, an easy target. And while it may be consistent with a cargo break in, the FBI says it is not ruling out any other motive. The FBI's terrorism task force is looking into the heist, and the Kansas City International Airport has been notified to be on alert -- Paula.
ZAHN: Two very odd heists indeed. Patty Davis, thanks so much for that report.
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