US Sanctions Fuel Theft Network Aiding Mexican Cartel

The U.S. this week sanctioned nine Mexicans and 26 Mexico-based entities with ties to a network that steals fuel to generate revenue for the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, a sanctioned Mexican drug trafficking group. The network has generated “tens of millions of dollars” for the cartel through fuel theft from Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company, Pemex, including by illegally drilling taps into fuel pipelines, stealing from refineries and hijacking tanker trucks, the Treasury Department said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control published two illustrations that outline the people and entities linked to the network. The designations target senior members of the cartel, including Ivan Cazarin Molina, a cartel official who is nicknamed El Tanque -- “meaning the storage tank” -- and who leads the group’s fuel theft efforts, OFAC said. The agency also sanctioned Molina’s family members and associates, as well as retail gas station companies and other entities connected to Molina.