Overview

• Federal judge Mario Martínez Elizondo formally opened criminal proceedings against Vice Admiral Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna and nine naval and customs officials for alleged organized crime related to hydrocarbons.
• Prosecutors say 31 ships unloaded illicit fuel over two years at the Altamira and Tampico customs, including arrivals at ports 289 and 290 and a seizure tied to the vessel Challenge Procyon.
• All male defendants remain in preventive detention at El Altiplano and two women are held at a federal prison in Morelos, while Perla Elizabeth C. received house arrest with an electronic monitor due to pregnancy.
• The judge cited the earlier killings of Rear Admiral Fernando Rubén Guerrero Alcántar and FGR official Magaly Janet Nava Ramos as events that could discourage potential informants.
• After defendants reported threats inside El Altiplano, the judge denied for now a transfer request to a military prison and asked the FGR to investigate the alleged intimidation; he also narrowed the alleged leadership tier to three figures, of whom only the vice admiral is detained.