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The network of corruption in Mexican customs now affects the Ministry of National Defense. The newspaper Reforma revealed that the Attorney General’s Office is seeking to arrest three members of the Army for their alleged participation in the sale of 144 million liters of fuel at the customs in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

The soldiers are on the run. They are part of a list of 13 people – including soldiers, sailors and businessmen – with arrest warrants. Seven have already been arrested.

The designated

The accused with military rank are Lieutenant Colonel Armando Barrera Trujillo and Blas Pedro Sarabia García, who were heads of customs between 2024 and 2026, and military police lieutenant Jorge García García, former deputy director of customs operations. Barrera and Sarabia have filed injunctions against the blocking of their bank accounts.

The plot was headed by Armando III Riestra Fernández, owner of Servicios Aduanales JR, imprisoned since January 2026 in the Altiplano prison. His company processed permits to import 144 million liters of fuel hidden as a calcium chloride solution. The importers were Jumandi Group and Ferroservicios.

“This criminal organization maintains a network of corruption that includes personnel from the military forces, such as the former head of the Matamoros customs, Armando Barrera Trujillo, Lieutenant Colonel of Sedena… and the current head, Blas Pedro Sarabia García,” Reforma cites in the arrest warrant.

The background of the case

Part of the fuel was smuggled after the Challenge Procyon ship was seized at Tampico customs. The ship declared additives, but was transporting hydrocarbons. That discovery uncovered a broader network: from June 2023 to March 2025, at least 69 illegal operations were coordinated in Mexican ports, with 564 million liters of illicit fuel.

Control of customs passed into military hands in mid-2020. Former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador justified the measure based on military honesty and efficiency. Successive corruption scandals have called that premise into question.

Two lieutenant colonels of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) are fugitives from justice after being accused of their participation in fuel smuggling at the customs office in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Both presented appeals against the blocking of their bank accounts ordered by the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Treasury. None of the trials have a final ruling: one is being processed in Mexico City and the other in Tamaulipas.

Legal actions and account blocking

According to an investigation by Reforma, these two soldiers are part of a corruption network that, along with 10 other officials and businessmen, introduced 144 million liters of hydrocarbons between June 1 and July 22, 2025. The head of the organization would be Armando III Riestra Fernández, operator of a customs services company who is already imprisoned in the Altiplano prison.

Lieutenant Colonel Armando Barrera Trujillo, former head of the Matamoros customs, filed his protection in February against the order to secure six bank accounts in Banorte, Banjercito, BBVA and Banamex. Although he was denied a definitive suspension in March, he managed to have a Banjercito account released, but only his pension funds. Its strategy has included complaints, reviews and jurisdictional conflicts between courts.

Lieutenant Colonel Blas Pedro Sarabia García, who took office on July 15, 2025, presented his protection from Tamaulipas. He complained about the blocking of his accounts at BBVA and Santander, as well as his inclusion on lists of blocked people without notification. In his case, a judge granted him the suspension to use his salary as an employee of the National Customs Agency of Mexico.

Control of customs passed into military hands in mid-2020. The Navy manages the ports and the Army manages the land borders. Former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador justified the measure in military honesty and efficiency. This case is the second fuel smuggling scandal involving the Mexican military, after the network discovered in the Navy.

The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) executed an arrest warrant against Ernesto N, former governor of Baja California, for his alleged participation in large-scale fuel smuggling. The arrest was carried out in Ensenada by elements of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC).

As reported by the FGR on social networks:

“As a result of a highly complex investigation related to large fuel smuggling operations, carried out by a company founded by a former governor of Baja California, requested and obtained an arrest warrant for the possible commission of the crimes of organized crime and smuggling against Ernesto N, which was completed this afternoon in Ensenada, Baja California, by elements of the SSPC.”

High impact research

The investigations focused on a company linked to the former president, accused of moving fuel illegally. The FGR described the case as part of a broader strategy against organized crime in the region.

Hydrocarbon smuggling has been a persistent problem in Baja California. The arrest of a high-profile political figure could set a precedent in the fight against these illicit networks. So far, Ernesto N’s defense has not issued public statements.