- Two El Paso FBI agents remained in critical condition
Friday after they were beaten with rocks and dragged into Mexico by alleged
railroad bandits Thursday night in the Sunland Park-Anapra area.
-
- Agents Sergio Barrio, 39, and Samantha Mikeska, 38, "suffered
blunt trauma to the head," after they were beaten with rocks and kicked,
said Hardrick Crawford Jr., the FBI's special agent in charge in El Paso.
-
- Barrio suffered a severe injury over his right eye, and
underwent surgery early Friday at Thomason Hospital to relieve pressure
on his brain. Mikeska also suffered pressure on the brain. Both were in
induced comas.
-
- "They were dragged across the border into Mexico,
and were ambushed by about a dozen subjects," Crawford said. "They
staggered back to the U.S. side."
-
- Luis Barker, Border Patrol chief of the El Paso sector,
said the agents were dragged through a hole in the fence at the U.S.-Mexico
boundary.
-
- "They (bandits) make holes all the time. We repair
them, and they make holes again," said Barker, who joined Crawford
during a news conference at the FBI offices in West El Paso.
-
- FBI Special Agent Al Cruz said U.S. agents arrested 16
suspects after the attack, including a female and two juveniles. They were
in custody Friday at the Sunland Park city jail. Their names and residences
were not available, but officials think most of them are from Mexico.
-
- The attack occurred about 8:30 p.m. Thursday "yards
from the Mexican border," Crawford said. "It was dark by then."
-
- "We are reviewing the situation to determine exactly
what happened, and we are investigating the subjects who were arrested
at the scene," Crawford said. "It's obvious we're going to have
to make some adjustments in this ongoing operation."
-
- Agents have been investigating the thefts of interstate
shipments from Union Pacific Railroad, thefts that result in annual losses
to the railroad of about $1 million, Cruz said.
-
- He said U.S. agents had information that the railroad
would be hit Thursday night, and a sting operation was called that included
the FBI, Border Patrol, U.S. Customs Service and Union Pacific Railroad
police, as well as Mexican customs on the Mexican side. About 40 U.S. law
enforcement officers were in the area, some on the train and others on
the ground.
-
- The bandits had jumped onto the train after it had slowed
down for a sharp bend in the railroads tracks near the Sunland Park Racetrack
& Casino.
-
- Crawford said three FBI agents were in one of the railroad
cars when one of them noticed a person on the roof. He pulled the person
off the roof, and while he was subduing him, he saw his two colleagues
staggering back to the U.S. side, chased by assailants.
-
- "When he realized his two comrades were being beaten,
he fired a shot," Crawford said. "That shot probably saved their
lives. ... They could not have sustained another blow."
-
- No one was shot. Dozens of Mexican customs officers also
rushed to the scene of the attack.
-
- The suspects remained in jail late Friday while officials
determined their roles in the attack, as well as their immigration status.
Charges can include, train robbery, assault on a federal officer and being
in the country illegally.
-
- "If someone decides to resist, somebody's going
to get hurt," Crawford said. "The bar has been raised by the
bandits. We will re-evaluate our tactics. ... This is not 1880. You don't
rob trains."
-
- Barker and Crawford said that gangs from Mexico have
been robbing trains in that area for several years, and that U.S. officials
regularly conduct sting operations.
-
- Since January in that area, Barker said, there have been
122 train robberies, 87 burglaries and 19 rock-throwing incidents.
-
- Because of the bend in the tracks, thieves can jump onto
a slow-moving train, break into cars and throw off cargo, officials said.
In the past, thieves also have unhitched cars at the end of the train so
they can take more time to move stolen merchandise into Mexico.
-
- The area is in the foothills of Mount Cristo Rey, where
pilgrims in recent months have reported being robbed and mugged by assailants
thought to be from Anapra.
-
- In 2000, U.S. officials arrested 16 Pinkerton security
guards in El Paso and a U.S. Postal Service employee in connection with
the thefts of about $1.6 million worth of merchandise from Union Pacific
trains.
-
- U.S. Customs officials said the suspects in that multi-agency
operation called "Steal the Rails" included two security guards
who had become Border Patrol agents elsewhere, a city Fire Department trainee,
and a Sunland Park police officer. Another suspect in that case, Cesar
Cabrales, a contract detention officer for the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, fled to Mexico.
-
- Now, U.S. officials said, the thefts are apparently being
committed by bandits who hit railroad cars that carry a variety of merchandise.
-
- First posted 9-14-2
|
