Gas Theft Out Of Control

[Draggingtree]

The News

Ricardo Castillo

Gas Theft Out Of Control

The duct milking phenomena has existed since 2000 and by 2016 at least 3,218 illegal plugs had been detected by Pemex

This week at least 2,500 Mexican Army soldiers with heavy artillery and 500 Federal Police guards will be stationed along 26 municipalities in what is known as the northeastern sierra of the state of Puebla. The occupation was ordered by President Enrique Peña Nieto and requested by current Puebla state governor José Antonio Gali Fayad.

Last Wednesday and Thursday men accused of stealing gasoline from the Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) owned fuel ducts opened fire against the soldiers. In the first clash the armed men used women and children as human shield, so the soldiers could not fire.

Yet the next day, a military group encountered a convoy of pickup trucks who responded accordingly, firing at the soldiers, but the men were not using human shields. This time there were six dead, four of them soldiers and 11 wounded, 10 of them soldiers, according to a report from the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena). There were 14 men of the armed group arrested.