LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities found the last of five 100-pound canisters of nitric acid stolen along with a truck on New Year's Eve.

The last canister of the caustic chemical was recovered Wednesday in an East Los Angeles alley, authorities said.

The truck, with the four other canisters, was found parked in east Los Angeles on Friday. The vehicle and its hazardous cargo had been stolen from Del Amo Chemicals, a chemical distribution business, on Dec. 31.

Police said it was possible the truck thief wasn't aware of the dangerous cargo, which was loaded on the back of the stake-bed truck in preparation for shipment

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Nitric acid, a highly corrosive liquid, can be mixed with other agents to make fertilizers and explosives.

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