Illegal border crossers from Venezuela with established ties to the notorious prison gang Tren de Aragua have been linked to an ATM theft ring across many states. The most recent arrests occurred in North and South Dakota.
West Fargo police recently arrested a 25-year-old guy outside a Gate City Bank location. He was initially pulled over for a broken taillight, but police arrested him for felony theft after discovering he was reportedly involved in bank ATM thefts in the Red River Valley.
“During the traffic stop, [the officer] begins speaking with the guy, who is here illegally and is not a citizen of the United States. “As he questions him, he discovers that there is over $24,000 cash in his vehicle,” West Fargo Police Chief Pete Neilsen told Valley News Live. Police discovered facemasks, black latex gloves, a computer keyboard with multiple cords and wires, and more than $24,000 in cash. According to court records, he admitted to working with a group of hackers who “jackpot” ATMs to steal money.
He also allegedly revealed the identities of two additional members of the theft ring that targeted banks in Fargo and West Fargo, who were apprehended on I-29 near Watertown, South Dakota, in Codington County, according to KXLG News.
“When you have someone that comes into your community and steals $150,000, and that’s an illegal alien, and then leaves, one would think that the Feds would step in and say, ‘You know, I’m going to take this one,'” Nielsen pointed out.
Farmers Branch Police Department in a Dallas suburb detained five Venezuelan males unlawfully in the country this month, suspected of being part of a national ATM theft ring, according to The Center Square.
The Dallas arrests are part of a countrywide ATM theft investigation involving various agencies in several states, including Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the FBI, the United States Marshals Service, and the United States Secret Service are all involved in the investigation.
Investigators from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center, Colorado Bureau of Investigations, Colorado State Police, the South Dakota Prosecutor’s Office, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Campbell County, Wyoming, Meade County, South Dakota, Dona Ana County, New Mexico, and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office are also involved.
In July, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recognized and sanctioned TdA as a transnational criminal enterprise. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated TdA as a foreign terrorist group in September, kicking off a huge campaign to target their operations, according to The Center Square.
The US Department of State is offering up to $12 million in reward money for information that leads to the arrest and/or conviction of several TdA leaders “for conspiring to participate in, or attempting to participate in, transnational organized crime.”
TdA gang members are notorious for brutality, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery, and human and drug trafficking, and they are involved in hundreds of law enforcement investigations around the country.
The Biden administration claimed the highest number of Venezuelan unlawful border crossers in US history, more than one million, according to The Center Square.
They are also among millions of illegal foreign nationals designated for deportation, as well as more than 662,000 with criminal records identified for deportation but not deported, according to The Center Square.