Sinaloa cartel’s growing trend in train heists

BNSF Train Sinaloa Cartel members raided a BNSF train on Jan. 17, 2025, according to Homeland Security Investigations. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Important Takeaways:

  • Mexican cartel members recently offloaded $202,500 in merchandise from train in Arizona, authorities say
  • The Sinaloa Cartel raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars stealing Nike shoes from a moving BNSF train in their latest railroad heist between California and Arizona, a pattern that has been on the rise, according to law enforcement.
  • Eleven members of the Mexican transnational criminal organization are in federal custody after stealing the merchandise from a train car traveling north of Phoenix with cut air brakes on Jan. 17, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said in documents filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Arizona.
  • BNSF employees notified police after spotting a severed air hose on a cargo train near Perrin, Arizona. Railroad police noticed a box truck parked a few miles away and, later, several crates positioned near the tracks.
  • Over the past two years, similar thefts have been on the rise, HSI said.
  • Typically, the agency said, the cartel sells its spoils on Amazon, eBay or other digital platforms or to amenable California retailers.
  • “They can get hundreds of thousands if not over $1 million worth of merchandise to sell and launder through … one, two container hits,” he said. “So this is actually relatively common activity for transnational criminal organizations and cartels.”

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