Explosives are reported missing from the nation’s largest US Marine Corps base, and an investigation is underway.
Last week, the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County, California reported the matter over to the Morongo Basin Station of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, but both agencies will not be conducting the investigation.
Jeff Houston of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service announced that their agency is leading the investigation, and did not provide any details about the kind of explosives were missing and how many.
“Out of respect for the investigative process, NCIS does not comment on or confirm details relating to ongoing investigations,” Houston said in an interview.
The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department and area law enforcement were also informed that the explosives were missing from the base, but their assistance were not requested at the moment.
Officials at the Twentynine Palms base – the military installation located about 150 miles east of Los Angeles in the southern Mojave Desert – also declined to comment on the matter.
The explosives are believed to have disappeared two weeks ago, during training at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms.
Reports claim that the missing explosives, which are believed to have been stolen, are 1.34 times as powerful as TNT, have an indefinite shelf life and require a detonator to explode.
A reward is being offered to someone who can assist in finding the high-powered plastic explosives.
Marine units from both the west and east coast use the Marine Corps base at Twentynine Palms for training.
At the moment, thousands of Marines are participating in a combat training exercise there since January 15, including the Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment and the 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
The said training is scheduled to conclude on February 18.