Explosive crime caper!

Back in February I posted on the upswing in daring thefts of catalytic converters (read article here). But recently two Maine youths went on a stealing spree at a New Hampshire junkyard that caused some unexpected alarm.

Junkyard owner tells of scramble to find thieves who unwittingly took an explosive primer
By CLYNTON NAMUO
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent
Saturday, Jun. 23, 2007

MILTON – Few people know better than junkyard owner Roger Libby the sort of weird things that are left in old cars.

So when Libby, a former ammo supply sergeant in the Army, found what appeared to be a small explosive primer in a car last week, he thought little of it and slid the charge, which looks like a shotgun shell, into a catalytic converter he was working on. He figured that he'd deal with it later.
...
Tuesday morning, Libby, who said he is a former Milton police officer, discovered the catalytic converter in which he stored the explosive primer had been stolen, along with 41 others. He and his business partner, Eddy Parret, sprung into action, trying to find the valuable car parts, not to mention the lost explosive.
...
Libby and Parret next checked with nearby junkyard owners, one of whom said kids driving a Chevy pickup had tried to sell some catalytic converters.

From there, Libby and Parret said they were able to track down at least two of the kids, both of whom confessed and told them where the parts were taken, allowing police to trace them to Madbury and Haverhill.
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Libby declined to name the two youths who confessed, saying only that one was a minor and one wasn't, and both were from Maine.
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[full article here: Source]