Two locked storage magazines used by a seismic testing crew in remote wooded area near Chetwynd, about four hours north of Prince George, were broken into on July 15 or 16, RCMP in Prince George said Monday.

An undisclosed amount of an explosive with the trade name Vibrogel - a high density, high velocity and high energy gelatin dynamite - was stolen, along with detonator caps and some 20-metre-long fuses.

RCMP said Monday the explosives could pose a threat to public safety if improperly stored or transported.

"We're thinking worst case, and we have to think worst case in notifying everyone and pull out all investigative avenues to ensure we get this back," Const. Craig Douglass said.

Seismic crews routinely use the explosive for natural gas exploration, but a theft such as this one is rare, Douglass said.

"It could simply be ... organized crime, someone who wants to sell it on the black market or just locals that want to blow up some rock in the backyard. ... We're not ruling out anybody. It's very, very unlikely that this intent was for a terrorist attack," Douglass said.

Chetwynd Mayor Evan Saugstad said the theft was troubling.

"It's a little disconcerting that somebody would steal explosives, not knowing the intended use or where they're going," Saugstad said.

Dyno Nobel, the company that produced the explosive, says on its website Vibrogel "produces a sharp pulse of seismic energy and detonates completely at high velocity, even under environmental extremes."

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