FERTILIZER THIEVES COULD BE NEXT PEST ON THE PRAIRIES, POLICE WARN

WINNIPEG -- Grasshoppers eat leaves, gophers eat roots, and police are
warning farmers about yet another pest roaming the Prairies this season:
thieves who steal fertilizer to concoct illegal drugs.

The notion that anybody would risk a nasty death by siphoning off anhydrous
ammonia might seem ludicrous to farmers, who buy pressurized cylinders of
the nitrogen-based fertilizer for $600 a tonne.

But manufacturers of illegal drugs will pay hundreds of dollars a kilogram
for the noxious chemical on the black market, because it's a key ingredient
of crystal methamphetamine.

As crystal meth's popularity grows on the Prairies, RCMP officials in
Alberta and Manitoba are telling farmers to move their storage tanks away
from roadways and to keep them well lit.

"It's a major concern," said Sergeant Ian Sanderson, drug awareness
co-ordinator for the Alberta RCMP. "We haven't seen too many of these thefts
to this point, but it's something we're watching very closely."

The number of ammonia thefts is difficult to determine because farmers might
not notice or bother to report a few dollars worth of missing liquid, said
Reg Helwer, a fertilizer dealer and former president of the Canadian
Association of Agri-Retailers.

"Sometimes it's difficult to detect," Mr. Helwer said. "But it's still very
rare in Canada. I know some American dealers who get hit pretty much every
week."

U.S. police and agriculture officials have been warning farmers for years
about a growing cohort of criminals who roam farms at night, searching for
drug ingredients.

Rogelio Guevara, the former chief of operations for the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency, told a U.S. House subcommittee looking into the
methamphetamine problem last July that "anhydrous ammonia, while not readily
available at the retail level, is extensively used in rural areas. Anhydrous
ammonia can be easily stolen from nurse tanks stored on farms or at farming
co-operatives."

Canada hasn't been as badly affected by these thefts, partly because it's
easier for illegal-drug manufacturers, or "cooks," to get alternative
ingredients such as red phosphorus in this country, said Sergeant Dave
Goddard, liaison officer for the RCMP drug unit in British Columbia.

But a fluctuation in the street price of red phosphorus could change that
situation, police say, so farmers should take precautions.

Manitoba RCMP Corporal Kevin Lamontagne said they have recorded three recent
thefts of anhydrous ammonia from farmyards within a short drive from
Winnipeg. In one case, copper tubing was found near the scene, he said,
which could suggest the thieves were copying a technique of U.S. criminals
who steal the chemical using a makeshift connection between the farmer's
storage and a portable barbecue gas tank.

Even assuming the thieves can extract it safely, Sgt. Sanderson said,
keeping the chemical in barbecue bottles can be extremely dangerous because
the ammonia corrodes the bottles' brass fittings, causing toxic leaks.

Anhydrous ammonia dealers in Canada are increasing security because of the
thefts, Mr. Helwer said, although unlike their U.S. counterparts the changes
are modest.

"Some Canadian companies are putting up more lights, checking the tanks more
frequently, but that's about it," Mr. Helwer said.