230,000 pounds of ball bearings stolen from New Mexico missile range, Army says

U.S. Army investigators are probing the theft of 230,000 pounds of nickel ball bearings used in explosives research from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, court documents say.

The ball bearings, valued at $2 million, were sold for scrap after being removed from four holding tanks in a large blast thermal simulator at the range, according to an affidavit for a federal search warrant filed by an Army investigator..

Opened in March, the investigation focuses on a civilian administrator at the base and an El Paso, Texas, contractor, the Army Times reported.

Neither man has been charged, but the administrator no longer works at the missile range, according to the publication.

The former administrator could not be reached and the contractor denied the ball bearings were stolen in a brief phone call, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

The missing ball bearings were sold for about $1 million, according to the affidavit.