No, it’s not American outlaws like Jesse James behind the recent string of train burglaries in Arizona — it’s the cartel, authorities say.
Arizona is seeing a dangerous trend in which a California crime network is targeting cargo in transit, according to Chief Deputy Jeff Newnum of the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.
The group most often targets trains carrying high-value merchandise, such as Nike shoes, leaving California.
While no one has been hurt during them so far, the cartel group has now been linked to a heist in April targeting a semitruck while the driver was taking a break in Ash Fork, Newnum said. Ash Fork is a community near Interstate 40, about 50 miles west of Flagstaff.
“Now, you have them doing it at a truck stop full of other trucks and other patrons. One of the suspects was actually getting gas at a pump and could care less that he was being videoed. So, very, very brazen, and that shows the level of concern and threat to the public,” Newnum said.
While Newnum said the sheriff’s office has been dealing with the issue for several years, this was the first case targeting a tractor-trailer.
Read the full story from our news partners at KTAR News here.
