The Mexican Navy’s black week: Corrupt captains, fuel theft, and bags full of money

The dismantling of a fuel smuggling network within the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM), comprised of sailors, civil servants, and businessmen and active since at least 2024, has dominated the public agenda and called into question the civilian role of the Navy. Led by brothers Manuel Roberto and Fernando Farías Laguna, high-ranking military officers and relatives of José Rafael Ojeda Durán, Secretary of the Navy during Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration (2018-2024), this network involved organized crime, customs, the military, and black bags filled with cash.

The latest developments regarding this criminal conspiracy are arrest warrants issued for more businessmen linked to the company Mefra Fletes, dedicated to the transportation and sale of fuel. The first blow to the plot, announced on Sunday, resulted in the arrest of 14 individuals. The investigation by the Attorney General’s Office also includes a new arrest warrant for eight other individuals for their involvement in hydrocarbon smuggling from the United States, and for selling fuel stolen through the classic huachicol method of tapping Pemex pipelines.

Three of the businessmen — Héctor Portales Ávila, Anuar González Hemadi, and José N — are already in the custody of authorities. Six military personnel and five customs officials have also been arrested due to Mefra Fletes’ connection to the Farías Laguna criminal network.

Of the five new names, three stand out: Roberto Blanco Cantú, who is believed to be the real owner of Mefra Fletes, and his brother Rigoberto, who are both allegedly linked to organized crime groups, according to the United States Department of Justice. The others are José René Tijerina and José Isabel Murguía Santiago, shareholders in Mefra Fletes. The brother of the latter is José Ascensión Murguía Santiago, municipal president of Teuchitlán, accused of involvement in organized crime and forced disappearance in connection with the discoveries made earlier this year at the Izaguirre ranch in Jalisco, a cartel training and extermination camp.

It was this company’s tanker trucks that primarily transported the 10 million liters of fuel carried by the Challenge Procyon vessel from the port of Tampico to a property in the neighboring town of Altamira in March 2025. It was there that authorities — after analyzing the tanker’s cargo and discovering that it had been carrying diesel instead of lubricating oil additives — secured the fuel and began building this case.

In addition to the Farías Laguna brothers, the other key military officer is Miguel Ángel Solano Ruíz, nicknamed “Captain Sol,” a retired sailor with the rank of corvette captain who, according to media outlets with access to the investigation file, lived lavishly. In five years, he spent 60 million pesos (about $3 million) at casinos and racetracks.

The prosecution’s main witness is another captain, whom the Prosecutor’s Office named “Santo.” In August 2022, Santo was appointed director of the Altamira Customs Office, after having a discussion about this role with Solano Ruíz. It was around that time that the first newspaper columns were published accusing the Farías Laguna brothers of manipulating the appointment of sailors so that trusted individuals would end up in key customs positions to operate their smuggling network.

During his first months in office, he received an envelope of money from Captain Sol, and in a phone call, it was explained to him that they were starting a new project for Los Primos and that his collaboration was needed. Los Primos was the nickname the Farías Laguna brothers had within the Navy.

According to the witness’s statement, the plan was to allow the unloading of ships loaded with hydrocarbons. However, on paper, their holds would carry other cargo. The first ship arrived in April 2024. The witness claims that laboratory tests were performed and that they were adulterated. Concerned, he spoke to Captain Sol, who responded, “Don’t worry, there’s knowledge of this at the central level; there are many people involved here.”

A few days later, he received a call and arranged to meet with a man named Osvaldo at a shopping mall. Like something out of a mobster movie, he gave him a black bag full of cash: 1.75 million pesos, more than $80,000, which he distributed among those involved. This method would be repeated with 14 ships until he was relieved of his command in January 2025. Captain Sol asked him to leave a trusted person in place. The chosen one was Captain Carlos Estudillo Villalobos, another of those arrested last Sunday.

During those months, Rear Admiral Fernando Rubén Guerrero Aguilar, Captain Sol’s former friend, sent a letter to Admiral Rafael Ojeda Durán, uncle of the Farías Lagunas and then Secretary of the Navy, denouncing his nephews. Guerrero Aguilar was murdered in November, allegedly in retaliation, as was a worker from the Attorney General’s Office a few days later. Added to these deaths is the suicide this week of another sailor, accused by Santo of receiving a bribe.

Throughout 2024, Ojeda Durán allegedly went to the Attorney General’s Office to request an investigation into corruption within ANAM. This has been repeated by President Claudia Sheinbaum and other authorities every time they have spoken about the arrest of his nephews, but at the same time they have acknowledged that the entire investigation is based on the seizure of the Challenge Procyon in March 2025.

Immediately after this operation, the protected witness was summoned to testify by the Navy’s Military Intelligence Unit. It is not known what he said, but it is known that he then tried to flee with a haul of 11 million pesos (around $550,000). He then received a call from his family, who were worried because someone had contacted them to tell them that he had been kidnapped. At that moment, Santo decided to live up to his ironic name and testify against the Farías Laguna brothers.

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