Matt Helms

Detroit Free Press

A large shipment of commercial-grade fireworks stolen from a CSX train traveling between Chicago and Detroit was recovered today in a vacant field in southwest Detroit, authorities said.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman Donald Dawkins said an anonymous tipster called Detroit Police, and the ATF responded at about 1:30 a.m. today and found 31 of the 32 cases in the field on Scotten Street.

He said no arrests have been made.

Authorities said it was not immediately clear why the shipment may have been targeted. The fireworks were discovered missing Thursday. The material could have represented a potential danger in the hands of inexperienced people, said ATF spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun.

Train arrives in Detroit missing 32 cases of explosives

In the past, fireworks have been cannibalized by some criminal suspects, including the Boston Marathon bombers, to construct deadly explosives.

Material from commercial-grade fireworks also was used by Aurora, Colo., theater shooter James Holmes in 2012 to booby-trap his apartment with explosive devices to target law enforcement officers. The devices were discovered and dismantled before they were triggered.

The Detroit Free Press reported Friday that CSX workers realized about 500 pounds of the explosives were missing when the train arrived on Wednesday near Central Avenue.

“There is nothing to indicate any acts of terrorism at this time,” Dawkins said Friday.

The explosives likely were among various types of freight, including consumer products and raw materials, on a train with about 100 boxcars, CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle said Friday in the Free Press story, adding that CSX is cooperating with the investigation.

It is possible the stolen explosives could be sold off for profit, Dawkins had said.

Dawkins said the case is still being investigated, and he said the ATF is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those who stole the explosives. Anyone with information is asked to call the ATF at 313-202-3400.

Detroit Free Press staff writers Joe Guillen and Niraj Warikoo, and USA TODAY, contributed to this report.