Migrant thieves targeting slow-moving freight trains through remote parts of California and Arizona have run off with more than $2 million worth of not-yet-released Nike sneakers in a series of movie-like heists, officials said.
In the most recent robbery on January 13, a group of 11 suspects — 10 of whom were in the country illegally — cut an air brake hose from a BNSF freight train as it rolled through a secluded area of Arizona and stole nearly 2,000 pairs of sneakers worth some $440,000, according to a criminal complaint filed in Phoenix federal court.
Many of the shoes were Nigel Sylvester x Air Jordan 4s, which are not available to the public until March 14 and are expected to fetch $225 retail per pair, the complaint states.
The robbery was one of at least 10 heists targeting BNSF trains in the Mojave Desert since last March, prompting an investigation by federal authorities, the Los Angeles Times first reported. The bandits stole Nikes in nine of the 10 incidents.
The 11 suspects in the Jan. 13 job, who were caught using tracking devices placed on some of the shoeboxes, pleaded not guilty to charges of possessing or receiving goods stolen from interstate shipment.
Ten of the defendants are Mexicans who were in the US illegally and one is a Mexican citizen who was in asylum processing, according to court records.
In another major heist on November 20, Sheriff’s deputies in Mohave County Arizona stopped a white van seen fleeing the area where a BNSF train came to an emergency stop near Hackberry after losing air, according to another complaint.
Roughly 180 pairs of then-unreleased Air Jordan 11 Retro Legend Blue sneakers, valued at $41,400, were found loaded in the vehicle, police said.
Two other cases BNSF freight trains were burglarized in separate incidents near Kingman and Seligman, Arizona last year resulting in the theft of $612,000 worth of Nikes and eight arrests, according to additional federal criminal complaints.
The thieves, sometimes tipped off by associates at warehouses, waited for the valuable merchandise to travel along rail lines parallel to Interstate 40, then boarded the lumbering freight trains when they changed tracks or opened their containers, Keith Lewis, vice president of operations at Verisk’s CargoNet and a deputy sheriff in Arizona told the LA Times.
The criminals were often aided by accomplices who followed the train cars in vehicles. Those on the train would toss them the loot when the train stopped — either scheduled or because an air hose had been slashed, according to Brynna Cooke, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent cited in affidavits filed in federal court.
Once secured, the stolen kicks are usually transported to California to be sold or put for sale online through third-party Amazon and eBay resellers, according to the LA Times.
Despite railroads investing millions of dollars in security measures to protect their shipments, thefts from cargo trains cost the nation’s six largest freight railroads more than $100 million last year due to the combination of stolen goods and damaged railcars.
And the problem is only increasing as the heists are becoming better organized and more sophisticated.
There were roughly 65,000 train thefts nationwide last year — a 40% increase from the previous year, according to the Association of American Railroads trade group. Even that could be significantly understated as railroads don’t publicize all thefts, Lewis told The Times.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimates that cargo thefts at various points along the supply chain from ports to trains to trucks account for between $15 billion and $35 billion in losses every year.
Thefts along any parts of the supply chain from ports to trains to trucks account for $15 billion and $35 billion in the US every year, according to ICE estimates.
BNSF has told its employees not to engage with thieves but just to report when an incident occurs.
With Post wires
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