Authorities confiscated 59 million liters of stolen fuel, the largest single-site seizure in Mexico’s history and five times larger than the March 2025 bust in Tamaulipas that led to 14 arrests, including six members of the Navy.
The operation, which was triggered after a July 3 arrest involving a tanker truck loaded with stolen fuel, occurred at a property located in the small community of La Fragua in the San José Iturbide municipality, Guanajuato state, alongside Federal Highway 57.
Las indagatorias para combatir a redes delictivas vinculadas al contrabando de combustible llevaron a la #FGR a cumplimentar órdenes de cateo que derivaron en el hallazgo de más de 59 millones de litros de hidrocarburo en #Guanajuato.
Más ▶️ https://t.co/1aA8iguFlJ pic.twitter.com/D6A7lUbh4n
— Guanajuato (@FGR_Gto) September 18, 2026
State and federal agents seized 10 tanks containing suspected fuel (diesel, regular gasoline and premium gasoline), three tanker trucks, containers used to transport fuel, and documentation. No arrests had been reported as of Friday morning.
State officials said the amount of hydrocarbon material discovered — roughly equivalent to the amount seized in all of 2025 — is so large that its identification and handling will have to be carried out by specialized personnel to prevent spills and fires.
The July 3 incident in which a person was arrested while unloading approximately 30,000 liters of stolen fuel at a gas station in San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato, prompted an investigation that led to another arrest weeks later at an LP gas dispensing station in Dolores Hidalgo.
As the suspects were unable to provide documentation establishing traceability, a judge issued a search warrant after investigators identified the storage facility in La Fragua as the likely source.
Guanajuato Security Minister Juan Mauro González Martínez said that the seizure goes beyond the volume confiscated.
“Investigating possible irregular fuel operations allows us to reduce the risk of fires, explosions and spills, while also protecting our communities and the environment,” he said. “It also disrupts potential sources of funding for criminal organizations.”
The facility was equipped with access roads, both asphalt and metal, for the movement of trucks and rail vans, as well as large-scale containers with a capacity for up to 80 million liters. All materials have been turned over to the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
For now, the authorities have not publicly established the origin of the 59 million liters seized, a task the FGR will undertake.
Prosecutors will also seek to determine who was in charge of the mega-operation, which is located just outside La Fragua, a community of fewer than 400 people. Current ownership remains unverified.
A small fuel storage facility was authorized there in 2013. Ownership changed hands several times by 2020, by which time it had expanded and was legally established as a Petroleum Products Storage and Supply Terminal.
At the time, the facility was operated by Gas Natural del Noreste, in partnership with ExxonMobil and Grupo Gasolinero Orsan and had been granted permits from the Environment Ministry and the federal Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment.
This latest bust is the fifth this year in Guanajuato related to stolen fuel, though the previous four pale in comparison:
- 55,000 liters of fuel were seized during a Feb. 25 joint operation across three towns;
- Twin operations in Apaseo el Grande on March 31 netted 99,000 liters of fuel.
- State police seized a tanker truck carrying 21,000 liters of fuel near Pénjamo on Aug. 27.
- A clandestine tunnel providing access to a Pemex pipeline was discovered and neutralized.
With reports from El País, La Jornada, Zeta, El Financiero and Periódico Correo
