Mexican authorities seize nearly 4 million gallons of stolen fuel

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities said Monday they seized about 4 million gallons of stolen diesel, gasoline and petroleum distillates from two abandoned trains in a state bordering Texas.

The seizure came days after authorities said they had taken down a fuel theft ring operating in central Mexico with the arrest of 32 people.

Mexico Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said on X Monday that the two rail tanker trains were found near the cities of Ramos Arizpe and Saltillo in Coahuila state. García Harfuch did not say where the fuel came from, where it was headed or whether it was related to last week’s arrests.

Mexico’s government has battled fuel theft from the state-owned petroleum company Pemex for years. More recently, there have also been cases of fuel imported illegally into Mexico by organized crime to be sold without paying import duties.

Pemex has said in financial statements that between 2019 and 2024 it lost nearly $3.8 billion to fuel theft. Stolen fuel is generally referred to as “huachicol” in Mexico.

Organized crime taps pipelines and diverts fuel to service stations forced to buy from cartels or sell it directly in the streets. U.S. authorities have even accused the Jalisco New Generation cartel of operating its own service stations.

The security chief said it was the largest seizure of fuel during President Claudia Sheinbaum’s term.

In both cases, the train cars appeared to have been abandoned and there was no paperwork showing where the fuel came from.

In March, authorities seized a boat carrying some 2.6 million gallons of fuel in the northern border state of Tamaulipas’ Tampico port.