EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – 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.
“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.”…