MEXICO CITY, Aug 5 — Mexican authorities said yesterday they dismantled four clandestine oil refineries and seized almost a million liters (6,300 barrels) of petroleum derivatives.
For years organized crime gangs in Mexico have engaged in fuel smuggling, siphoning hydrocarbons from the pipelines and installations of the partially state-owned oil company Pemex.
But Mexican federal prosecutors said in a statement that the “illicit fuel processing centers” shut down yesterday represent a new twist in Mexico’s lucrative underground fuel business.
Smuggling cost Pemex around US$530 million in the first half of 2026, 20 percent more than in the same period of last year.
The statement did not say if anyone was arrested in the new raids.
These illegal processing centers were located in the central states of San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo, and Morelos.
Prosecutors shared photos of immense industrial tanks fitted with networks of pipes. Authorities seized containers and machinery as well as fuel.
The constant movement of trucks in and out of these refineries, some reeking of fuel or carrying industrial pipes, tipped authorities off to the operations.
A clandestine operation siphoning fuel from Pemex in the state of Hidalgo in 2019 ended with an explosion that caused 137 deaths. — AFP
