Police arrested two suspects in Arizona on Thursday in connection with train heists that yielded Nike shoes.
Over the last year, thieves have targeted freight trains traveling through the Mojave Desert in the southwestern U.S. Many of the heists have taken aim at millions of dollars’ worth of Nike sneakers, the Los Angeles Times first reported in February. Authorities are investigating at least 10 similar robberies.
The Hualapai Nation Police Department pulled over a maroon Chevy Tahoe at 2:40 a.m. on Thursday that was “suspected to be involved in train robberies in the area,” the agency said in a post on Facebook. It was not clear how police connected the vehicle to the robberies.
Officers detained the driver, a man from Mexico, as eight people fled the car while it was stopped, police said. Officers found the stolen Nike shoes nearby.
Police said in the same post they made another arrest during the investigation: a woman driving a white Toyota 4Runner that was stopped for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle.
When officers approached the car, they “observed evidence of criminal activity” that police said was also related to the train robberies. It was not clear what criminal activity was observed or how officials connected it to the robberies.
Officers asked the driver to get out of her car, which she did at first, before getting back into the car and driving away from the scene, police said. During her attempt to flee, she hit a patrol officer, who did not sustain any injuries.
Police chased the suspect for approximately 80 miles before they say the woman’s car lost control in a construction zone near the Arizona-California state line, hit a guard rail and ejected the driver. She had minor injuries and was taken to the Valley View Medical Center in Mohave Valley, Arizona, for treatment, police said in the statement.
Both of the suspects were booked in the Mohave County Adult Detention Center for their alleged involvement in the train robberies case. Police also said both suspects were in the U.S. illegally.
