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Financial Crime, US

INSIGHT: The paper trail linking a US fuel trader to a notorious Mexican cartel

A member of the Mexican Navy and a sniffer dog patrol the Port of Tampico on May 28, 2025. Authorities have stepped up port security in an effort to combat smuggling of drugs and fuel. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

By Stefanie Eschenbacher, Stephen Eisenhammer and Shariq Khan

IKON Midstream, a Houston-based petroleum trader whose offices were raided last month by U.S. authorities, is under investigation in Mexico in connection with fuel smuggling, according to three Mexican security sources with direct knowledge of the matter and four Mexican government security documents.

The probe is part of ongoing investigations into maritime shipments of petroleum products that were brought to Mexico from the U.S. and Canada in an alleged scheme to evade a hefty tax due on these imports, the documents and sources said.

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