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Judge Orders Arrest of Rear Admiral Fernando Farías in Fuel-Smuggling Probe

Prosecutors sought his detention to compel attendance in a case alleging a customs scheme that disguised fuel as lubricants to evade taxes.

Overview

  • Control judge Nancy Selene Hidalgo Pérez authorized the arrest order and instructed the Federal Ministerial Police to execute it to secure Fernando Farías’s appearance.
  • Farías skipped hearings on September 30, October 20, and November 5; the session was reset for Saturday, with the warning he could be formally deemed evading justice if he fails to appear again.
  • The Federal Public Ministry is pursuing charges of organized crime tied to hydrocarbon offenses, with money laundering and tax fraud also cited in the case file.
  • The defense argues it has not received the full case file and that key documents are redacted, and it unsuccessfully sought permission for Farías to appear remotely.
  • Investigators describe a network that moved fuel mislabeled as lubricants through key customs such as Tampico, link Farías and his brother as leaders via a cooperating witness, and note large gaps between his declared income and reported spending.