Jul 17, 2008 4:38 pm US/Pacific
Police Find 12 Pounds Of Explosives In Auburn Home
AUBURN (CBS13) ―
12 pounds of explosives found in an Auburn man's home. Cops say the suspect may have been trading drugs for explosives, but do police have any idea what he may have been planning?
"That's way too close. And all these kids they are all playing around all the time," says one resident.
Kids play just feet away from where powerful explosives were stored.
"Dangerous destruction from that blast, from that much explosives," says Mark Reed.
Dangerous materials Mark Reed says his bomb squad found accidently.
"The officers, they got kind of startled," says Mark.
Raiding the Sapphire Drive home in Auburn looking for drugs, the Auburn Bomb Squad instead discovered more than 12 pounds of dynamite and military explosives stashed in a locker.
"They basically had military TNT, some what we believed to be high explosives," explains Mark.
Authorities say James Mercado knows all about the illegal explosives he had in his residence, and is now charged with possession.
Mercado neighbor says they believe he would be selling them for money. "Probably selling it, but who would you find to give that to?"
"I would say if a house is raided due to narcotics and you have property that you are storing there, there is a connection somewhere," says another one of Mercado's neighbors.
Though authorities cannot connect where Mercado got the explosives, "It's very hard unless you know somebody in the military," says Reed.
Wherever the explosives came from, residents want them out.
"That's why I want to move," says one neighbor.
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