9 our bodies present in automobiles close to Mexican gasoline pipeline

Authorities in central Mexico stated Tuesday they discovered the our bodies of 9 males in automobiles close to a gasoline pipeline.

The circumstances across the deaths remained below investigation, however there have been indications that gasoline theft could have been concerned. Mexico faces an issue with gangs that steal gasoline, diesel and pure gasoline from authorities pipelines.

Ángel Rangel Nieves, police chief of San Juan del Rio metropolis within the central state of Queretaro, stated the our bodies had been present in two automobiles close to the pipeline north of Mexico Metropolis. The automobiles had license plates from the neighboring state of Hidalgo, thought-about one of many facilities of gasoline theft.

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Since taking workplace in December 2018, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made preventing gasoline theft a central objective of his administration. However regardless of 1000’s of troops being deployed to protect pipelines, 1000’s of unlawful faucets are nonetheless discovered yearly.

A Mexican flag waves in entrance of The Nationwide Palace, the workplace of the president, in Mexico Metropolis’s essential sq., the Zocalo, at dawn, April 24, 2023. (AP Photograph/Marco Ugarte)

In 2023, about 5,600 unlawful faucets had been discovered nationwide. That was down from over 7,000 in 2022 however virtually the identical degree as when López Obrador took workplace.

The federal government has cracked down on open gross sales of stolen gasoline and managed to cut back the quantity for a few years. Stolen fuels are sometimes offered by the facet of the street and typically by means of licensed gasoline stations.

Losses from stolen gasoline on the state-owned oil firm, Petroleos Mexicanos, dropped to as little as $275 million per yr in 2019 and 2020. However since then losses have ballooned, rising to over $1.1 billion in 2022.

The pipeline faucets trigger violence between gangs and pose a danger to residents. To realize assist amongst native individuals, thieves typically depart faucets open.

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On Jan. 18, 2019, an explosion at an illegally tapped pipeline in Hidalgo state killed at the very least 134 individuals. The explosion occurred within the city of Tlahuelilpan as residents collected gasoline leaking from the faucet.