TANK LOCKS PASS FIELD TEST

WATERLOO -- Would-be methamphetamine cooks took a crack at the new
locks on fertilizer tanks earlier this week.

And they went home empty-handed.

A farmer noticed on Wednesday afternoon that his anhydrous ammonia
tank in the area of Oxley and Wellman roads had been tampered with.

The orange shroud on the integrated lock and spigot was cracked, but
the thief --- who apparently wanted the chemical to make
methamphetamine --- wasn't able to defeat the mechanism, said Black
Hawk Deputy Tony Thompson.

The incident "vindicates our efforts in the war against
methamphetamine cooking," Thompson said.

He said authorities were pleased with the first "combat field test"
of the new locks, which began capping tanks in the county earlier this year.

In January, the county began using drug forfeiture funds and money
from the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy to replace an older
locking system with one designed by Castell Interlocks.

Castell makes valves and locks that are used to protect Nigerian oil
pipelines from rebel saboteurs.

The design is easier for farmers to use in the field than earlier
locks used in the county. It also means they will be locked when they
are being used in the fields.

They are also more difficult to defeat. Authorities said the only way
to breach the lock without the required hand wheel key would likely
cause an uncontrollable leak of the pressurized chemical.

During Wednesday's incident, the meth cooks hooked up a tube to
another valve on the tank after failing to bypass the lock. But the
other valve was a vapor vent, and they weren't able to syphon any of
the chemical, Thompson said.

No arrests have been made in the incident.

Currently, all of the anhydrous ammonia tanks in the county have
locks with either the old or new devices.