In recent months, organized gangs have been stealing cargo from trains in the Mojave Desert, targeting high-value items like Nike Air Jordans and gaming headsets. Using tools like electric saws, they cut locks and air hoses to stop trains, often risking derailment. Once stopped, they haul the stolen goods away in vehicles. Federal prosecutors have charged at least 12 individuals, primarily from Mexico, in connection with these heists. Train thefts have surged, totaling over 65,000 last year, costing the industry more than $100 million. Rail companies are urging greater federal support to combat these organized crimes.
It feels like a scene from a western movie.
Recently, well-organized thieves have been targeting trains traveling through the Mojave Desert in Arizona, stealing their valuable cargo. But instead of gold bars and vintage watches, these robbers are making off with items like Nike Air Jordans and wireless gaming headsets, as noted by federal prosecutors.
In many instances, the thieves used electric saws, bolt-cutters, and other tools to break the locks on containers filled with expensive goods. They also severed the air hoses on the trains’ brakes, which caused abrupt stops, posing a risk of derailment, according to prosecutors. In this area, trains often speed along at 70 m.p.h.
After stopping the trains, the culprits would take cases of Air Jordans, electronics, and other items and stash them in nearby fields and bushes. They later called accomplices to transport the stolen goods away in box trucks, prosecutors mentioned.
Ultimately, some of these items were sold by third-party vendors on Amazon and eBay.
The train robberies, previously covered by The Los Angeles Times, have surged in number over the last two years, with transnational gangs increasingly targeting high-value cargo shipments, according to prosecutors.
At least 12 suspects — primarily Mexican nationals living illegally in the U.S. — have been charged in federal courts since last year, as detailed in court documents outlining at least seven train robberies since June 8, 2023. Law enforcement has confiscated approximately $3 million in merchandise thought to have been stolen from BNSF trains.
Some suspects were apprehended in January when authorities responded to a BNSF train with a severed air hose near Williams, Arizona. This particular train, which exclusively carried Nike products, had been a frequent target for thieves, according to prosecutors.
Upon stopping the train on January 13, a BNSF police officer discovered around 200 to 250 cases of Nike footwear near the railroad tracks.
Investigators seemingly established a sting operation to catch those coming for the stolen shoes. They placed tracking devices in four of the Nike cases, which contained an unreleased Air Jordan model set to launch in two months and retailing for approximately $225 per pair.
The authorities subsequently tracked the shoes to two vehicles — a U-Haul and a Ford truck marked “Eddie’s” — and made several arrests, including one individual who attempted to escape. The Ford truck was found carrying about $202,000 worth of Air Jordans, prosecutors reported.
Authorities also recovered more than 900 boxes of Turtle Beach Stealth Pro headsets, valued at over $590,000, which were taken from a BNSF train east of Flagstaff, Arizona, in 2023, prosecutors indicated. These headsets had been loaded into a large landscaping vehicle and transported to a Motel 6.
The gangs involved in these heists primarily consist of citizens from Sinaloa, Mexico, who have extensive networks across California, New Mexico, and Arizona, prosecutors stated.
According to the Association of American Railroads, there were over 65,000 train thefts reported last year, marking a roughly 40 percent increase compared to the previous year. These thefts resulted in costs exceeding $100 million for the industry, the association noted.
Rail companies estimate that, at maximum, only one in ten cargo theft attempts leads to an arrest. The association has urged for increased federal investment in securing the rail network, emphasizing that the industry cannot combat these well-organized — and often transnational — criminal organizations on its own.
BNSF stated on Monday that it collaborates with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement to thwart criminal activities and apprehend offenders.
“It is crucial for the entire justice system, including lawmakers, district attorneys, and judges, to address this crime trend and ensure that these criminals are prosecuted and held accountable,” the company stated.
Thieves commonly scout for high-value shipments by checking for trains with easily visible locks on the containers as they pass along Interstate 40 in Needles, California, close to the Arizona border, prosecutors explained.
While many trains were halted by robbers cutting the air hoses on the brakes, the thieves have also tampered with railway signal systems by forcing locks off signal boxes and cutting the internal control wires, prosecutors noted. In court documents, this type of sabotage was described by prosecutors as “a dangerous act that creates dark areas on the rail network.”
Robbers have abundant opportunities to board trains in the remote Arizona desert because trains often must stop on sidetracks for four to five hours to allow another train to pass in the opposite direction, explained Edward A. Hall, the national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
Due to the length of the trains, which can reach three miles, the engineer and conductor may have no idea that thieves have boarded miles behind them, said Mr. Hall, who worked as a Union Pacific engineer for 28 years, operating trains between Yuma, Arizona, and Tucumcari, New Mexico. By the time an engineer or conductor walks back to check, the robbers may have vanished, he concluded.
“This has been happening for a long time, as long as I’ve been in the industry,” Mr. Hall remarked about the train thefts, “but it’s occurring more frequently now.”