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.