There has been much talk this year about the new Trump administration locking and loading and taking the fight to the drug cartels in Mexico.

Before we do that, we might want to first wipe out the organized crime by Mexican nationals in our own country. 

A recent series of arrests in Arizona and subsequent court filings show that organized crime is active and preying on freight rail in Arizona and California. 

On Jan. 13 in the remote desert northwest of Williams, Ariz., an organized ring of thieves cut the air brake on a BNSF freight train and stole 1,985 pairs of exclusive Nike sneakers worth some $440,000. 

Federal agents arrested 11 people on suspicion of theft. Nine of those were Mexican nationals, The Arizona Republic reports. While many are listed as residents of Sinaloa, the filing does not provide evidence connecting them to the cartels.

However, the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Arizona by Brynna Cooke, a U.S. Homeland Security agent, broadly outlines the crime patterns federal agents have witnessed over many years.

“Over the past 15 years, several Transnational Criminal Theft Organizations have been burglarizing BNSF Railway and Union Pacific trains throughout the Southwest of the United States to include Arizona. 

“These organizations consist primarily of Mexican citizens........

© Arizona Republic