Mexican Cartels Are Raiding U.S. Trains

Eleven men have been arrested in connection with a theft that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars of Nike merchandise being stolen from an NSF train in Phoenix.

Federal authorities have attributed the theft, along with other similar railroad thefts in the region, to associates of the  Sinaloa cartel.

Homeland Security Investigators, in a court document, wrote, “Once the organization targets a train of interest, they find a location for several burglars to get on the train.”

“The burglars open container doors while the train is moving and target merchandise such as electronics, tools and footwear,” added the investigators.

"Thefts of high-speed Nike shoes is a threat to national security. We are working with Brooks to develop a faster shoe for our agents combating the cartels," explained Spox for the Department of Homeland Securityhttps://t.co/Q4zOFYc5Wz#copolitics #9News #HeyNext pic.twitter.com/exFKYjDFW8

— 9MM NEWS (@News9mm) January 29, 2025

Here’s what MSN reported:

Eleven men are in federal custody in connection with the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Nike shoes off a BNSF train whose air brakes were cut as it traveled on tracks on Monday north of Phoenix.

It is the latest in a series of brazen thefts that have been on the rise in the past two years in a vast stretch of land between California and Arizona. Federal officials attribute the activity to associates of a transnational criminal organization based in Sinaloa, Mexico.

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“Once the organization targets a train of interest, they find a location for several burglars to get on the train,” Homeland Security Investigations said in documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Arizona. “The burglars open container doors while the train is moving and target merchandise such as electronics, tools and footwear.”

Cartel associates look for containers with security locks – which they believe carry valuable goods. They use metal-cutting saws, bolt cutters and other tools to defeat the locking mechanism. What follows could easily cause a tragedy.

California resident known as Sinaloa cartel’s ‘gun and ammo supplier’ sentenced to prison
“The suspects often cut the train braking system air hose, which causes the train to go into emergency stop,” HSI said in the court documents. “This act is very dangerous and can cause a train to derail, which could cause serious injury or death to railroad company employees or citizens.”

Sinaloa Cartel's cargo train Nike shoe heist latest in long-standing trend: law enforcement https://t.co/Sl1fBDETYn #FoxNews

— News Source LA (@NewsSourceLA) January 29, 2025