Mexican security forces have dismantled one of the most sophisticated fuel-theft operations in the country’s history, dealing a significant blow to the financial apparatus of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. In a series of coordinated raids across central and northern states, authorities arrested 27 people, including Mauricio Gamboa Reyes, alias El Burras, who is alleged to have overseen the extraction of up to 1.5 million litres of fuel weekly. The operation, announced jointly by the Security Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office, marks the first major success against organised huachicol—the term for illicit fuel siphoning and resale—since the current administration tightened its anti-corruption drive.

Viewed from Mexico City, the arrest removes a key logistics coordinator for the CJNG in the central Bajío region, a zone where the cartel has long exploited Pemex pipelines and weak regulatory oversight. Yet the broader network extended far beyond physical theft. Investigators uncovered a parallel scheme of petrofactureras—shell companies that issued fake invoices for stolen gas and liquid petroleum gas, generating estimated profits of 123 billion pesos.

One such web involved 40 front firms that used maritime and rail routes to smuggle fuel through Tamaulipas, Querétaro, and Jalisco, evading customs by fragmenting the product’s traceability. In Altamira, the seizure of the tanker Challenge Procyon last year first exposed this fiscal fraud. The operation also netted seven suspects linked to a separate cell operating in Chihuahua, the State of Mexico, and Mexico City, suggesting the problem is nationwide.

In Guanajuato, a state ravaged by cartel violence, police and soldiers discovered a buried cistern fed by a clandestine tap, holding 25,000 litres of fuel. Analysts in London note that the dismantling of this network comes as Mexico faces mounting pressure from the United States to curb fuel smuggling across the border—a trade that often funnels profits to the same cartels trafficking fentanyl. The US Treasury has previously sanctioned CJNG-linked fuel thieves.

But the sheer scale of the petrofacturera scheme indicates that Mexico’s energy sector remains hollowed out by corruption. While the arrests are a tactical victory, the fundamental vulnerability of Pemex’s infrastructure and the ease with which phantom companies can be registered suggest the roots of huachicol run deeper than any single kingpin. The question now is whether Mexico’s security apparatus can sustain this momentum, or whether the cartels will simply adapt, fragmenting their logistics into smaller, harder-to-trace cells.