General Eduardo León Trauwitz, head of security for the state-owned company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) under the last government, was arrested in Canada at the request of Mexico’s attorney general’s office, which initiated proceedings there two years for his alleged relationship with fuel theft rings, authorities said Friday.

The attorney general’s office said in a statement that Eduardo L He was detained by Canadian authorities to begin his extradition process. A federal official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to testify, confirmed that the detainee is León Trauwitz, who served as Pemex’s assistant director of strategic safeguards during Pemex’s six-year tenure. former President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) and was responsible for the security of the country’s oil pipelines.

General León Trauwitz, who applied for a license from the army in 2010 to be Peña Nieto’s security chief when he was governor of the State of Mexico, the prosecution opened a trial in 2019 for his responsibility likely as a “protector of huachicol (fuel theft) within Pemex,” the letter states.

The attorney general’s office maintains that it was able to verify that the general, along with other people, “hidden and protected the huachicol in Pemex’s distribution networks”.

In recent years, thefts of hydrocarbons, especially oil, have multiplied in Mexico.

Since taking office in 2018, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has promoted the fight against the million dollar fuel theft business and deployed thousands of soldiers to guard the pipelines.

Another of the former Pemex officials facing legal proceedings is Emilio Lozoya, a former director of the state-owned company, who was charged with the crimes of corruption, money laundering and criminal association and receiving millions of dollars in bribes.

Lozoya had been granted conditional release after being extradited from Spain in 2020, but last month a judge lifted the measure and ordered he face the proceedings in prison.

As reported by the Federal Judicial Council, the magistrate imposed a justified preventive detention during the examination of the arguments of the prosecution that Lozoya had not respected the requirements of collaboration with justice necessary to remain on parole. The Financial Investigations Unit also added that there was a risk of leaks.

Lozoya led Pemex from 2012 to 2016. After leaving office, he fled to Spain where he was arrested and extradited to Mexico in 2020.