One killed in shootout between army, fuel thieves in Mexico

A suspected member of a criminal gang dedicated to fuel theft died on Saturday after a firefight with federal police in the eastern state of Veracruz, according to a police statement.

A report of the federal police's regional security division said that the fight broke out when armed gang members sought to rescue two of their members, who had been arrested while transporting stolen fuel in a truck.

It read that the police had arrested both men and secured the vehicle on Saturday morning, between the towns of Sayula de Aleman and Acayucan, in the south of Veracruz.

As the officers were taking the detainees to Acayucan, a group of their accomplices opened fire. The police returned fire and killed one of the gang members who was inside a vehicle. Police reinforcements soon arrived, forcing the criminals to flee toward Sayula de Aleman.

Fuel theft in the states of Veracruz and Puebla has become a hot topic in Mexico, especially since four soldiers and six suspected gang members were killed in shootouts on May 3.

Mexican authorities have stated that the gangs used women and children as human shields to attack the soldiers. This violence led Mexico to deploy around 2,000 soldiers to the area this week.

A report by Mexican national oil company, Pemex, in 2016 estimated that an average of 23,500 barrels of oil are stolen from Mexican pipelines every day. Endite