US Treasury Sanctions Mexican Cartel Over Fuel Theft

Fuel theft, including the smuggling of crude oil, is the ’most significant non-drug revenue source' for Mexican cartels, Treasury said.

A tanker truck from Mexico's oil company, PEMEX, enters a refinery to load up on fuel in Tula, Hidalgo state, Mexico, on Jan. 11, 2018. Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL), a Mexican cartel that derives most of its illicit revenue from oil and fuel theft operations, the Treasury said in a statement on Dec. 17.

The department, said CSRL’s fuel theft operation is based in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.