During a Jan. 13 robbery in Perrin, Arizona, suspects cut an air brake hose on a BNSF freight train 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.
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 $2 million worth of new Nike sneakers, including many that haven't hit the retail market yet, according to officials and court documents.
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.
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.
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.
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