On Thursday, Sept. 17, a Burlington Northern and Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway train was set on fire in Riverside as part of a robbery, allowing suspects to rob freight cars while the train had stopped. After receiving a report around 4:40 a.m. firefighters arrived at the scene to discover a shipping crate opened and on fire, which they were able to extinguish. Officials have not yet released a statement on what items were stolen and whether any suspects had been arrested.
The robbery reflects a trend of increasingly aggressive railroad robberies conducted by organized groups stealing and reselling cargo, following an attempted San Bernardino train robbery in August where suspects opened fire on BNSF officers. These were preceded by heists in the Victor Valley area, with officers recovering more than $437,000 in cash and stolen goods last month.
BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent stated that BNSF police are currently investigating the attack, and “working with federal, state, local, and tribal police departments to coordinate our approach to disrupting criminal activity and arresting offenders.”
