Canadian authorities on Friday arrested Mexican General Eduardo León Trauwitz, who was responsible for security at Pemex in the previous government and is accused of stealing fuel, known in Mexico as “huachicol”, the prosecutor’s office reported. General of Mexico.
“At the request of the General Prosecutor’s Office (FGR), Mr. Eduardo “L” has just been arrested by the Canadian authorities, to begin his extradition procedure”, announced the public prosecutor’s office in a brief press release.
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The prosecution recalled that Trauwitz is accused of having been “the protector of huachicol within Pemex” under the government of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) with a group of accomplices already prosecuted who “covered and protected” this practice of the interior of the Mexican national oil company.
Mexico requested the general’s extradition on Nov. 12, 2019, which “enabled Canadian authorities to fully comply with the request, demonstrating the excellent bilateral relations with that country,” the prosecutor’s office said.
In 2019, a federal judge ordered the prosecution of three Pemex military personnel suspected of collaborating with criminal groups in the theft of hydrocarbons.
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José Carlos Sánchez, detained in Cadereyta, state of Nuevo León; Oziel Aldana, arrested in Mexico City, and Ramón Márquez, apprehended in Tampico, Tamaulipas.
The defendants were subordinates of General Eduardo León Trauwitz, who headed the Pemex Strategic Safeguards Sub-Directorate, specifically responsible for preventing fuel theft.
According to FGR investigations, this group of soldiers and others at Pemex collaborated with criminal groups to illegally steal fuel from the state oil company’s pipelines.
When President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in late 2018, he deployed the military to the Pemex pipelines to stop fuel theft.
Mexico’s government claims fuel theft has caused losses of 65 billion pesos a year (about $3,400 million) across the country
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