Thieves Raid Amazon, FedEx Train Cargo, Leave Empty Packets On Tracks

The thieves wait until the long freight trains in Los Angeles are immobilized, then they climb onto the cars, break the locks with bolt cutters, and help themselves to the parcels they want, ditching thousands of other products on the tracks.

Dozens of freight cars are broken into every day on Los Angeles's railways by thieves who take advantage of the trains' stops to loot packages bought online, leaving thousands of gutted boxes and products that will never reach their destinations.

According to the tags found Friday by an AFP team on a track near the city center -- which was easily accessible from nearby streets -- many major US mail order and courier companies such as Amazon, Target, UPS and FedEx are being hit by the thefts, which have exploded in recent months.

The thieves wait until the long freight trains are immobilized on the tracks, and then climb onto the freight containers, whose locks they easily break with the help of bolt cutters.

They then help themselves to parcels, ditching any products that are difficult to move or re-sell, or are too cheap, such as Covid-19 test kits, furniture or medications.