Progreso Police said they are closer to busting a carjacking ring targeting owners of extended cab trucks along the border, then taking them into Mexico.
On Thursday night, officers arrested Efrain Villareal after he stole a Ford F150 from a 54-year-old woman outside the Family Dollar in Progreso.
"The lady, she didn't believe what has happening so he told her,” Sgt. Stephen Trejo said. “Give me keys or I'm going to kill you, in Spanish, and then when she saw the weapon, she gave him the keys and she ran inside and called 9-1-1."
Villareal took off to Nuevo Progreso, but police caught up to him.
He was extradited back to the Valley, just hours later.
On Saturday, he faced a judge and was charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
Police are now looking for five or six other men he was working with.
Sgt. Trejo said Villareal “was paid $500 to come over here to Texas and target this area, anywhere from Hidalgo to Brownsville."
He added that the group has to meet a monthly quota of $15,000, or roughly 30 stolen trucks.
Those trucks are taken to Mexico, and once there, police said they land into the hands of criminals.
"Basically they're targeting the Ford F150 crew cabs because they can transport a lot of things in the back, Sgt. Trejo said. “Or it’s a crew cab so they can fit a lot of people in the back."
Progreso Police are stepping up patrol and making more traffic stops in the city.
Sgt. Trejo said this is isn't the first time this happens, but they want it to be the last.
Police recovered the weapon Villareal used to steal the truck.
The judge issued him a $100,000.
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