A senior Mexican naval officer is detained for fuel theft

Key Points

• A senior Mexican naval officer, Vice Adm. Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna, has been arrested in connection with a massive fuel theft investigation that began in March.
• The seizure involved 10 million liters of fuel, and has sparked a broader crackdown on fuel theft known as huachicol, which has cost the state-owned company Pemex $3.8 billion over five years.
• This arrest is significant as Farías Laguna is the highest-ranking officer detained under President Claudia Sheinbaum's anti-fuel theft campaign.
• U.S. authorities are concerned that drug cartels in Mexico are increasingly using the oil industry to smuggle stolen fuel into the United States.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A senior Mexican navy officer has been arrested along with a number of business leaders and government officials in connection with a massive fuel seizure in northern Mexico earlier this year, a federal agent confirmed to the Associated Press.

Vice Adm. Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna — a relative of a former navy secretary – was detained Tuesday as part of an investigation that began in March, when officials intercepted a ship carrying 10 million liters (2.6 million gallons) of fuel in the Gulf port of Tampico, said the agent who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.

Farías Laguna is the highest-ranking officer arrested under President Claudia Sheinbaum’s crackdown on fuel theft, known in Mexico as huachicol. Such theft has long plagued the state-owned oil company Pemex, and has cost the company $3.8 billion in just five years.

U.S. authorities warn that drug cartels are increasingly using intermediaries in Mexico’s oil and gas industry to smuggle stolen fuel into the United States. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has reported that Mexico's most powerful cartels help finance their operations through fuel theft.

Federal Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Saturday that both company executives and public officials were arrested after the March 31 seizure in Tampico. He pledged that investigations would continue.

Mexico’s navy did not immediately comment on the case but said in a statement that it maintains a “zero tolerance” policy toward corruption.