Mexico Reports Record Number of Illegal Taps Into Fuel Pipelines
7, 2018
MEXICO CITY — Fuel thieves in Mexico drilled 10,363 illegal taps into state-owned pipelines in 2017, or an average of about 28 every day.
Last year, Mexico’s government estimated that the 2016 thefts cost Pemex about $1 billion for the year,
but the company provided no monetary estimate of the losses in 2017.
The government-owned oil company Pemex reported Wednesday that illegal taps rose about 50 percent last year, from 6,873 in 2016.
Raids near Reynosa turned up about 5,500 gallons of presumably stolen fuel, cocaine,
17 assault rifles, two .50-caliber sniper rifles and two Claymore mines.
Pemex said that We face a great challenge, and all together, the public
and the government, we should work in a grand alliance to face this criminal activity that affects the property of all Mexicans,
Fuel thefts were once largely confined to two or three states in Mexico,
but have since spread across the country, including to the suburbs of Mexico City.
Pemex said in a statement that the authorities had closed 70 gas stations for selling presumably stolen fuel to drivers.
