Mexico’s Navy raided a trucking depot that was being used by the Gulf Cartel to store thousands of gallons of stolen fuel that would be sold on the underground market as part of a complex moneymaking scheme.
The incident occurred last week in an area west of the border city of Matamoros, not far from the Los Indios International Port of Entry. As part of the raid, authorities seized various pieces of equipment, including pumps, large storage containers, and three trailers – two were for liquid cargo, and the third would move plastic containers to hide the smuggled fuel.
Authorities were able to arrest two men who are believed to be part of the Escorpiones faction of the Gulf Cartel. The raid comes at a time of mounting pressure on Mexico’s government over not doing enough to stop drug cartels. To diversify their revenue streams, the Gulf Cartel continues to participate in widespread fuel smuggling.
Known as Huachicol, the underground fuel scheme calls on groups working for the cartel to steal diesel or other finished products from pipelines belonging to Mexico’s state-owned fuel company, Pemex. That stolen fuel is then sold with false documents, or smuggled into Texas, where complicit refineries provide documentation claiming they bought crude oil and refined it. Then the fuel is smuggled back into Mexico using false documents to claim it is oil waste.
The complex paper trail is designed to hide the origin of the stolen fuel. As Breitbart Texas has reported, stolen fuel has been closely linked to the highest levels of Mexico’s government, including the sons of former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Most recently, authorities arrested a top vice-admiral with Mexico’s Navy who was hiding in Argentina to flee from an investigation into his alleged role as a top leader in a fuel smuggling operation that reached the highest levels of Mexico’s Navy.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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