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Thieves pry open freight train shipping containers in Oak Park, Illinois

Thieves target freight train in Oak Park, Illinois
Thieves target freight train in Oak Park, Illinois 01:03

OAK PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- Thieves targeted shipping containers on a freight train in Oak Park Thursday afternoon.

Police received a report of people stealing from trains along the Union Pacific freight line near Austin Boulevard and Lake Street — where Chicago's Austin neighborhood meets Oak Park.

A Hapag-Lloyd shipping container mounted on the train appeared to have been pried open. The container seemed to contain giant rolls of carpet, some of which were spilling out onto the tracks.

There were reports that other shipping containers on the train were also broken into.

In October of last year, burglars broke into several shipping containers on a freight train in the same area in an hours-long daylight heist. The thieves were caught on camera pulling flatscreen TVs out of the back of a freight train car, walking with them to waiting cars, sometimes even passing a parked Chicago police unit with its lights on.

In the October incident, police sources said Chicago police officers waited more than an hour for Union Pacific officers to respond and secure the tracks.

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