Oil refineries in the United States purchased millions of Amercan pesos’ worth of oil that drug cartel operatives stole from Mexican government pipelines, then smuggled over the border. I am going to presume that this contraband was transported in a method that did not involve swallowing plastic baggies full of light sweet crude, or shoving oil globs up one’s bum. Here is a brief snip from an AP item:
Criminals — mostly drug gangs — tap remote pipelines, sometimes building pipelines of their own, to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil each year, the Mexican oil monopoly said. At least one U.S. oil executive has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in such a deal.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Homeland Security department is scheduled to return $2.4 million to Mexico’s tax administration, the first batch of money seized during a binational investigation into smuggled oil that authorities expect to lead to more arrests and seizures.
Read the full story here: AP NewsBreak: US bought oil stolen from Mexico (Associated Press via Google, via Jack Shafer)