Fuel Smuggling Tanker Unveils Cartel Conspiracy at Port of Ensenada

On March 8, a petroleum tanker named Torm Agnes entered the Port of Ensenada on Mexico’s Pacific coast with almost 120,000 barrels of diesel, an unusual sight in a port primarily used by cruise ships and luxury yachts. The port, lacking the necessary infrastructure to unload such cargo safely, became the stage for a more intriguing operation later that day.

A fleet of fuel-hauling trucks arrived to transport most of Torm Agnes’ cargo, loaded by workers efficiently and rapidly. Eyewitnesses described the operation, carried out through the night, as meticulous, despite its high risk. This bold maneuver was orchestrated by smugglers linked to local cartels, ushering a wave of low-cost fuel smuggled principally from the United States.

The operation was facilitated by Ikon Midstream, a Houston firm that acquired the diesel in Canada and misrepresented its documentation to evade substantial taxes. While narcotics continue as the primary income source for Mexican cartels, fuel smuggling has become their top non-drug revenue source, worth over $20 billion annually, disrupting Mexico’s fuel market and involving U.S. entities.