Mexican authorities said on Thursday they discovered 59 million liters (15.6 million gallons) of suspected illicit gasoline and diesel in the country's latest bust targeting black market fuel.
Trafficking of stolen fuel is one of the most lucrative criminal activities in Mexico, alongside the drug trade. The attorney general's office made the discovery at a building in the central state of Guanajuato, a hotspot for the illegal trade.
Officers found 33.5 million liters of regular gasoline, 7.2 million liters of premium gasoline and 18.2 million liters of diesel, the attorney general's office said in a statement.
The operation followed months of investigations triggered by the arrest of a person in July who was caught unloading fuel from a tanker without being able to explain its origin, the office said.
Mexican authorities launched a crackdown on fuel smuggling last year, when high-ranking navy officers and officials were implicated in a smuggling ring.
Police arrested more than a dozen people in that case, in which about 10 billion liters of black market fuel was seized in the northern state of Tamaulipas, which borders the United States.
