Thieves targeting freight trains in California and Arizona deserts make off with US$2M worth of Nikes

A BNSF locomotive heads south out of Oklahoma City, Sept. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

LOS ANGELES — Thieves have targeted freight trains running through the deserts of California and Arizona in a string of audacious heists resulting in the theft of more than US$2 million worth of new Nike sneakers, including many that haven’t hit the retail market yet, according to officials and court documents.

In a Jan. 13 robbery, suspects cut an air brake hose on a BNSF freight train traveling through a remote section of Arizona and made off with more than 1,900 pairs of unreleased Nikes worth more than $440,000, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Phoenix. Many of the shoes were Nigel Sylvester x Air Jordan 4s, which won’t be available to the public until March 14 and are expected to retail at $225 per pair, the complaint states.

It was one of at least 10 heists targeting BNSF trains in remote areas of the Mojave Desert since last March that authorities are investigating, the Los Angeles Times reported. All but one resulted in the theft of Nike sneakers, according to investigators.

Eleven people were charged in the Jan. 13 burglary with possessing or receiving goods stolen from interstate shipment. All 11 have pleaded not guilty and were all ordered detained until trial. Ten are Mexicans who were in the United States illegally. Another defendant is a Mexican citizen who was in asylum proceedings in the United States, authorities said in court records.

The suspects in the Jan. 13 heist were caught with the help of tracking devices that were inside some of the boxes, the complaint says.

In another case, a BNSF train came to an emergency stop near Hackberry, Arizona, on Nov. 20 after it started losing air, according to a complaint filed in the Phoenix federal court. Sheriff’s deputies in Mohave County stopped a white panel van seen leaving the area and found about 180 pairs of then-unreleased Air Jordan 11 Retro Legend Blue sneakers valued at $41,400, the complaint states.

Two other cases in which BNSF freight trains were burglarized near Kingman and Seligman, Arizona, last year resulted in the theft of $612,000 worth of Nikes and eight arrests, according to federal criminal complaints.

Scouting merchandise

Thieves typically scout merchandise on rail lines that parallel Interstate 40 by boarding slow-moving trains, such as when they are changing tracks and opening containers, said Keith Lewis, vice president of operations at Verisk’s CargoNet and a deputy sheriff in Arizona. Lewis told the Times that the thieves are sometimes tipped off to valuable shipments by associates working at warehouses or trucking companies.

In another case, authorities say a Mexican man who controlled crews that burglarized trains had scouts who would tip him off on trains to target, supplied vehicles, paid crews and facilitated the sale of stolen merchandise.

The suspects are often aided by accomplices in “follow vehicles,” which track the rail cars. The loot is tossed off the train after it comes to a halt -- either for a scheduled stop or because an air hose has been cut, according to Brynna Cooke, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent cited in affidavits filed in federal court.

A significant cost

Thefts from cargo trains cost the nation’s six largest freight railroads more than $100 million last year because of a combination of the value of the stolen goods and the cost of repairs to railcars the thieves damaged, and the problem is getting worse in recent years as the thefts have become more organized and sophisticated. The Association of American Railroads trade group estimates that the number of thefts jumped roughly 40% last year to 65,000 nationwide.

In 2022, thieves raided cargo containers aboard trains nearing downtown Los Angeles for months, taking packages belonging to people across the U.S. and leaving the tracks blanketed with discarded boxes of items deemed not valuable enough to steal. The audacious thefts prompted authorities and freight companies to step up security in the area. In 2015, thieves stole 111 guns after busting the locks off a train in a Chicago railyard.

Railroads have invested millions in measures to help prevent such thefts, but it’s not like they can easily restrict access to the more than 140,000 miles of track they operate across the country. It crosses remote, rural areas and cuts through the heart of many cities carrying millions of shipments of everything from bulk commodities like coal and grain to raw materials like rock.

The rail trade group said additional federal enforcement and tougher penalties are needed to deter the thefts. The railroads estimate that only about 1 out of every 10 theft attempts result in an arrest, and many of the people who are arrested are repeat offenders. One railroad even reported arresting the same individual five times in a single day.

BNSF and the other major freight railroad that hauls goods across the western United States, Union Pacific, didn’t immediately respond to inquiries from The Associated Press about the thefts. BNSF said in a statement to the Times that its internal police force shares information with local law enforcement and prosecutors as appropriate.

The company said its crews are instructed not to confront thieves, but to report the incidents instead. But the crews rarely encounter them, it said, because the trains are so long and the thieves take care to evade detection.

Cargo thefts from trains, trucks and ships are a problem in shipping hubs all across the country and a focus of the FBI. U.S. 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. Many of the more organized groups target major shipping hubs like Los Angeles, Dallas, Memphis, Chicago and Atlanta.