Mexican authorities discovered a tunnel on Thursday dedicated to fuel theft in Hidalgo that included an altar to the notorious narco patron saint, Santa Muerte.
Santa Muerte, the Mexican folk saint representing death, is a spiritual icon associated with Mexican criminal subculture.
Authorities found cans of beer, soda, alcoholic beverages, meat, tortillas, onions and nopal cactus leaves presented as offerings inside the tunnel. A satanic altar with statues of demons and werewolves was also discovered.
According to information from the Hidalgo Attorney General’s office, state and federal security forces found the altar in a 25-meter fuel theft tunnel. During the operation, 10 people were arrested and 38,000 liters of stolen fuel were recovered, along with 200 doses of a synthetic drug called “crystal” and 2,000 grams of what appeared to be marijuana.
In a press release, the state’s prosecutor’s office said 378 troops from the Ministry of Defense and the National Guard, as well as state and municipal police, carried out seven simultaneous searches over five hours in the Hidalgo’s Cuautepec municipality. The tunnel led to a Pemex pipeline, which had two clandestine fuel taps.
The statement also highlighted that more than one million liters of stolen fuel has been recovered and 174 huachicoleros (fuel thieves) have been arrested in the last eight months.
Hidalgo is the state with the most illegal fuel taps, with 1,190 illegal fuel perforations discovered in 2022, and Cuautepec has the highest rate of fuel theft of the state’s municipalities.
With reports from Sin Embargo, Aristegui and Periodico Central
