Canada refuses to grant bail to Mexico accused of fuel theft | Mexico | USA Edition

The Mexican Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said on Thursday that a Canadian court had rejected a request for the release of Mexican General Eduardo Leon Travitz, who has been charged with fuel theft.

“The court found that the high risk of the plane, the severity of the crimes that could have taken place in Mexico and the patriarchal damage caused to the Mexican state were sufficient elements to imprison him during the extradition process,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. .

The decision was made by the Supreme Court of the State of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

The FGR report concludes that “the support provided by the Government of Canada to Mexico is an example of international solidarity in the face of crime and impunity.”

On December 17, Canadian authorities arrested General Travitz, who had been in charge of Bemex security in the previous government and was accused of stealing fuel known as “huachchikol” in Mexico.

“At the request of the FGR, Mr Eduardo” L “has been arrested by Canadian authorities for attempting to extradite him,” the ministry said in a statement.

Truvitz was accused of being a “defender of huachcicol in Bemex” during the government of Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018) and has already been prosecuted along with a group of allies. Mexican.

Mexico demanded the deportation of the General on November 12, 2019, which “allowed Canadian authorities to fully comply with the request, which demonstrates excellent bilateral relations with that country,” the prosecutor’s office said.

In 2019, a federal judge ordered the trial of three Bemex military personnel on suspicion of collaborating with criminal groups in hydrocarbon theft, who were later arrested.

Defendants were deputy officers of General Eduardo Leon Travitz, who headed Bemex’s deputy directorate for strategic defense, which was precisely responsible for preventing fuel theft.

According to FGR investigations, these soldiers and other individuals in Pemex are working with criminal gangs to illegally steal fuel from state oil company pipelines.

When President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in late 2018, he stopped the military at Bemex pipelines to prevent fuel theft.

The Mexican government estimates that fuel theft costs the country 65,000 million pesos (about $ 3,400 million) a year.