Dozens of guns among items stolen from cargo trains in LA

Source: Associated Press

Dozens of guns among items stolen from cargo trains in LA

January 30, 2022

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of handguns and shotguns were among items stolen by thieves who raided cargo containers aboard trains near downtown Los Angeles for months, authorities said.

Police arrested three people last summer carrying new .22-caliber handguns, The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. A trace of the weapons revealed they came from a batch of 36 handguns reported missing as they were being shipped by train to Tennessee, police officials said.

One of the suspects said the guns had come from cargo trains in LA’s Lincoln Heights rail yards, where widespread thefts have been reported. Shortly afterward, LA police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested two other suspects with shotguns. Those weapons were determined to be part of a missing shipment of 46 shotguns, the Times reported.

Only a handful of the 82 guns known to have been stolen from trains passing through Lincoln Heights have been recovered. Investigators are not yet sure how many other weapons may have been pilfered, Capt. German Hurtado told the Times.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/arrests-los-angeles-322140c3ba58114cca29486c72f41cba


FILE - Contractor worker Adam Rodriguez recovers vehicle tires from the shredded boxes and packages along a section of the Union Pacific train tracks in downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 14, 2022. Authorities say dozens of handguns and shotguns were among items stolen by thieves who raided cargo containers aboard trains near downtown Los Angeles for months. The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday, Jan. 29, that police arrested three people last summer carrying new .22-caliber handguns. A trace of the weapons revealed they came from a batch of 36 firearms reported missing as they were being shipped by train to Tennessee, police officials said. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)