Thread: Border theft ring is targeting pickups

Border theft ring is targeting pickups

Web Posted: 10/16/2007 09:56 PM CDT

Lynn Brezosky
Rio Grande Valley Bureau Express-News

WESLACO — A truck theft ring that stole five pickups in 30 minutes and sped all but one across the border to Mexico is believed to be operated by Mexican drug and human smugglers, police said Tuesday.
The thefts occurred Sunday at a Best Western motel on the edge of Texas 1015, which connects U.S. 83 with the international bridge to Progreso, Mexico.


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A city police officer chased one of the trucks about 10 miles to the border, but the driver rammed another vehicle aside and sped into Mexico.

Another driver abandoned a truck in the middle of the bridge. It was towed to the United States.

"It's very common here in the Valley that vehicles are stolen and head south to the border," Weslaco police spokesman David Molina said. "They know that once they cross over the river they're home free."

Full-sized Ford pickups are among the perennial favorites for auto thieves, according to federal statistics and the insurance industry.

Weslaco police have arrested eight Mexicans and charged them with auto theft in the past two months, Molina said.

The suspects told police they cross the border illegally to "go shopping" in the fast-growing Rio Grande Valley's parking lots. They target pickups with large cabs, which smugglers favor for transporting people or contraband.

The thieves pry doors open and use pliers or screwdrivers to start the trucks. Once in Mexico, they are paid about $500 per vehicle, police said.


http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/ ... fb663.html

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lbrezosky@express-news.net

Gee you mean journalist they just need them for construction jobs and the lawn care services....they are just doing jobs that American refuse to do...even in the valley