Up to 16 Attacks a Day on Trains Running Between Veracruz and Mexico City Mexico News Daily
go to original September 19, 2017

A Ferromex train, target of petroleum thieves (FXE4007/YouTube)

The people who were stealing fuel from pipelines have now turned their attention to the railroads, the communications manager for the Ferromex and Ferrosur rail systems says.

Lourdes Aranda said in an interview with journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva that train robberies have increased “exponentially” so far this year in the mountainous region on the boundary between the states of Veracruz and Puebla.

She said there have been up to 16 attacks a day on the 35 trains that run daily between Veracruz and Mexico City.

“It’s incredible how it’s grown. It was very quiet there last year.”

The thefts have been reduced on the Veracruz side through joint efforts by the railway and the state government, Aranda said, and most of the incidents are now concentrated in the Puebla municipality of Cañada Morelos.

The thefts are conducted by heavily armed criminals with high-powered weapons, accompanied by local residents, she said. “We’re not prepared to fight against the large numbers of people who arrive with support from armed individuals.”

The former are used as a human shield while the thieves help themselves to appliances, sugar, wine and liquor, cement, tires and more, Aranda said.

Read the rest at Mexico News Daily

Related: Driver Killed, Three Passengers Injured in Race Against Freight Train (Mexico News Daily)

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