Mexico Says It Dismantled Largest Fuel Smuggling Network, Arrests Ex-Governor

Mexican authorities said Thursday they dismantled what they described as the country’s largest fuel-smuggling network after investigators found it had used rail tank cars to illegally import more than 15.3 million liters of fuel from U.S. refineries while evading customs inspections and federal taxes.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said the year-long investigation led to the arrest Thursday of former Baja California Governor Ernesto Ruffo and seven other people, part of 25 arrest warrants issued in the case.

Authorities estimate the organization failed to declare about 15.3 million liters of fuel and evaded more than 106.8 million pesos ($6.14 million) in excise IEPS and value-added taxes.

It added a broader review of over 4,200 import operations conducted between January and July 2025 estimated more than 4 billion pesos in tax losses to the federal Treasury.

According to the FGR, companies linked to the network declared only about 10% of the actual volume transported in rail tank cars or misidentified the imported products, allowing fuel from Texas refineries to enter Mexico without proper customs inspections before being distributed mainly in Coahuila, Durango and Zacatecas states.

“The company importing that fuel has the former governor as its majority shareholder,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday during her daily briefing with reporters. “From there, a series of investigations followed.”

Ruffo served as governor of Baja California from 1989 to 1995 and later as a federal deputy from 2018 to 2021. Authorities said he was taken Friday to the federal maximum-security prison in Almoloya de Juárez, about 70 km (43 miles) west of Mexico City.

Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said Friday the investigation remains ongoing by the FGR Office in coordination with security agencies.

More than 400 people have been prosecuted from Dec. 1, 2025 to July 15 this year, linked to fuel-smuggling networks operating by sea, rail and road, the FGR said.

–Reporting by José Luis Adriano, jadriano@opisnet.com; Editing by Karla Omaña, komana@opisnet.com and Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com