Drugs barons seek oil profits

Drugs gangs in Mexico have expanded their brief in recent years to include oil smuggling.

Petroleum produced by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Mexico’s state-owned oil company, is being siphoned from national pipelines and smuggled into the US.

“We suspect that some of this could be involved with narcotics,” said Carlos Ramirez, Pemex spokesperson.

Mexican authorities said the drug cartel’s’ decision to smuggle oil is a sign that president Felipe Calderón’s two-year campaign against drugs barons is working.

“The cartels are fighting for pieces of a shrinking pie.” said Ariel Moutsatsos, adviser for international affairs for the attorney general of Mexico.

“When you have no pie left […] then you have to look for another illegal business to pay your people.”

Several US companies are being investigated by the US government for their alleged role in the cross-border smuggling.

Nancy Herrera, spokesperson for the US Attorney’s office in Houston, said the investigation is a “cooperative effort” between Mexican and US authorities.

John Morton, assistant secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, refused to name any of the suspected companies, but assured journalists that “people are going to jail” and “fines will be paid”.

Morton did not confirm the value or quantity of smuggled oil.