EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Federal agents have arrested eight men in connection with the theft of $300,000 in Nike shoes from a cargo train in Arizona.
The arrests came shortly after the crew of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter recorded six individuals unloading 23 crates from a BNSF Railway boxcar stopped along the tracks on Monday some 24 miles east of Winslow, Arizona.
Four charged with possession of $175,000 in stolen Nikes
The rail tracks between Needles, California, and communities north of Phoenix in the past few years have become a favorite stalking ground for a transnational criminal organization based in Sinaloa, Mexico, sending its associates north or working with American contractors on the U.S. side.
“Once the organization targets a particular train of interest, they find a location for several train burglars to get on the train. They open container doors and target merchandise to steal electronics, tools, wearing and shoe apparel,” Homeland Security Investigations agents said in recent court filings…