Mexico City (Reuters) – Mexican authorities say they have caught more than 3 million liters (792,516 gallons) of illegally stored fuel in a property in the country’s southeastern state of Tabasco, a series of major fuel-related seizures nationwide.
Why it matters
Thursday’s seizures were part of Mexico’s fight against fuel smuggling, which included pipe theft of fuel from state-owned oil company Pemex and imports under false classifications to evade taxes.
Key Quotes
“18 vehicles, three machinery and 3,904 metal structure containers were secured, which contain hydrocarbons and were identified as petroleum derivatives,” Mexico’s safety cabinet said in a joint statement Thursday.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that seizures were associated with the “traceability” of recent imports of fuel from its origins until they reached the point of sale.
context
State-owned PEMEX has exploded rampant crude oil and refined products through illegal pipeline faucets throughout Mexico over the years, causing huge losses.
By number
In the past few weeks, authorities have carried out two attacks in Tabasco, discovering 1.5 million liters of fuel from a ship on a U.S. ship and 10 million liters of fuel in Tamolipa, a ship a few weeks before it arrived in Mexico from the U.S.
(Reported by Ana Isabel Martinez; Writing by Natalia Siniawski; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
