Monday, February 23, 2026

Petroleum thief’s brother, second in command arrested in Veracruz

The brother and right-hand man of the prominent Puebla petroleum thief known by his nickname “El Bukanans” has been arrested in Veracruz.

Saúl de los Santos de Jesús is suspected of a July 2017 attack on marines in Vicente Guerrero, Puebla, where four gangsters and a marine were killed. At the time, the Secretariat of the Navy said de los Santos was one of the dead. He is also a suspect in the kidnapping of three anti-kidnapping agents in Atzitzintla, Puebla, in March last year.

His brother is Roberto de los Santos de Jesús, leader of the Sangre Nueva Zeta gang, which controls illegal pipeline tapping and fuel theft in the Red Triangle zone of Puebla, and has also been tied to freight train and truck theft, kidnapping and extortion in an area that encompasses parts of the states of Puebla and Veracruz.

Last month, the government of Veracruz raised the reward for any information leading directly to the arrest of Roberto de los Santos to 5 million pesos (just over US $250,000).

Source: El Universal (sp), El Popular (sp)

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