Mexico seizes ship, warehouse and trucks involved in hydrocarbon theft

Source: Reuters Published: 2020/9/21 18:28:40


Marines attend Mexico's Independence Day military parade in Mexico City, capital of Mexico on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua



Mexican authorities said on Sunday they had confiscated a vessel in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz and a warehouse in neighboring Tabasco along with storage tanks and trucks used by criminal groups to steal, transport and store hydrocarbons.

Fuel theft has been a problem in Mexico for decades but President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has enacted a range of measures to stamp out the practice and crush corruption and organized crime.

State oil company Petroleos Mexicanos said in a recent presentation that an estimated 106 billion pesos ($5.02 billion) had been saved since Lopez Obrador took office in December 2018.

Various anonymous complaints about criminal groups siphoning off hydrocarbons from pipelines in the area led to the operation, authorities said in a joint statement.

On September 11 near the city of Cardenas, Tabasco, officials found a clandestine tap on pipelines, authorities said.

Officials then tracked down a warehouse near a highway with 16 storage tanks and five trucks that authorities said were used to store and transport the stolen resources.

Several days later, officials located a vessel, called the Blue Commander, docked in the Pajaritos Lagoon in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. Officials there surprised people loading hydrocarbon from the trucks onto the vessel. Mexican authorities said that 21 people were arrested while the Blue Commander was confiscated.
Newspaper headline: Mexico sees big win with hydrocarbon theft arrests


Posted in: AMERICAS

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