The immigrant burglar targeting slow-moving freight trains passing through remote California and Arizona escaped in unreleased Nike sneakers over $2 million in a cinematic robbery series, officials said.
In the latest robbery on January 13, a group of 11 suspects (10 of them were illegally in the country) cut air brake hoses from a BNSF freight train, rolled through a remote area of Arizona, and stole sneakers worth around $440,000, according to criminal charges filed in federal court in Phoenix.
Many of the shoes were the Nigel Silvester x Air Jordan 4S, which were not open to the public until March 14th and are expected to receive $225 per pair of retail.
The robbery has been one of at least 10 robbers targeting BNSF trains in the Mojave Desert since March last year, prompting an investigation by federal authorities. The Los Angeles Times was first reported. The bandits stole the naik in nine of the 10 cases.
The 11 suspects on the January 13 job were caught using tracking devices placed in several shoeboxes, but admitted not to committing any crimes of owning or receiving stolen items from interstate shipments.
Court records show that 10 of the accused were Mexicans illegally in the United States, and one was a Mexican citizen who had been dealing with asylum.
According to another major robbery on November 20, sheriff's deputies in Mojave County stopped a white van that escaped an emergency stop area near Huckbury after a BNSF train lost air.
Police found that about 180 pairs of retro-legend blue sneakers of the time-unresolved Air Jordan 11 retro-legend blue sneakers worth $41,400 were loaded into the vehicle.
Two other case BNSF freight trains were robbed in separate cases near Kingman and Seligman, Arizona, last year, resulting in the stolen of Nike worth $612,000 and eight arrests, according to the addition of a federal criminal case.
The thieves were sometimes turned over by warehouse companions, waiting for valuable goods to travel along the railroad line parallel to Interstate 40 before boarding a timber freight train when they changed trucks or opened containers.
Criminals were often rescued by accomplices who followed trains in vehicles. According to Brinna Cook, a special agent in the Homeland Security Investigation, cited in an affidavit filed in federal court, the train will throw loot when it stops when it stops – because the air hose has been freshened.
According to the LA Times, stolen kicks are usually transported to California for sale or for sale online through eBay resellers.
Despite the railroad investing millions of dollars in security measures to protect freight, theft from freight trains cost the country's largest freight railroad, with over $100 million last year, due to a combination of stolen goods and damaged railcars.
And the problems are on the rise as robbers are better organized and more refined.
According to the American Railroad Trade Group Association, around 65,000 train thefts nationwide last year. Lewis told The Times that even that could be modest as the railroads don't make all the theft public.
US immigration and customs enforcement estimates freight theft at various points along the port-to-train supply chain accounts for losses of between $15 billion and $35 billion each year.
According to ICE estimates, train-to-truck thefts from port to trains account for $15 billion and $35 billion each year in the United States.
The BNSF instructs employees to report incidents when they occur, rather than interacting with burglars.
With post wire
