Mexican authorities believe nine bodies related to ongoing problem of gasoline theft

Mexico authorities have reportedly found the bodies of nine men in vehicles near a fuel pipeline north of Mexico City, raising fears the deaths are the most recent deadly incident in Mexican gang wars over fuel poaching and theft.

The circumstances of the men’s death Tuesday is under investigation, according to Fox News. 

Angel Rangel Nieves, police chief of San Juan del Rio city in the central state of Quereraro, said the bodies were found Tuesday in two vehicles. There were indications that fuel theft may have been involved.

In December, Texas GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Democrat Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar appealed to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai for help stopping fuel theft in Mexico, which is, the lawmakers said in a letter to Tai, impacting the industry north of the border.

In one incident across the border from Brownsville, Texas, cartel members forced drivers of a dozen tanker trucks at gunpoint to dump imported U.S. gasoline.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Orador declared war on fuel theft after taking office in December 2018,

In 2023, about 5,600 illegal taps were found in Mexico, according to Fox. That was down from over 7,000 in 2022 but almost the same level as when López Obrador took office.

Fuel theft, popularly known as huachicol, has cost the state-run Pemex $2.9 billion in the time Orador has been in office.

Violence between gangs over pipeline taps is posing a risk to Mexico residents in the area of the pipelines, according to Fox,and thieves sometimes leave the taps open to gain support from locals.

In 2019, an illegal tap led to an explosion in the Mexican state of Hidalgo, which killed 134 people.