Phoenix police recover stolen training explosives

Phoenix Police Dept.

A container with explosives that was part of a Phoenix police training exercise was recovered Monday, Sept. 5, 2011 after it was stolen the previous week from Sky Harbor International Airport, a police spokesman said. 

CNN Wire Service

A container with explosives that was part of a Phoenix police training exercise was recovered Monday after it was stolen last week from Sky Harbor International Airport, a police spokesman said.

The container was discovered “intact” on a road about 10 miles from the airport by a driver who recognized it from news reports, Sgt. Tommy Thompson said.

The blue soft-sided Igloo container held within it two half-pound tubes of Cast Booster explosives, Phoenix police said.

It was part of a routine training exercise taking place Friday in the public area of the airport’s Terminal 4, police said.

“This is the public area before the security screening check points where there are no restrictions on items carried in the airport,” a police statement said.

“At that time, a training aid, which had been set out as part of the training, was stolen by an unknown individual.”

The cast booster is used throughout the state in the mining industry. And, police said, it cannot be detonated without additional equipment and “some degree of expertise.”

Thompson said Monday that the recovered container “had not been tampered with.”

CNN’s Shawn Nottingham contributed to this report.