FGR Seeks 20 to 40 Year Prison Term for Ruffo in Hydrocarbon Smuggling Case

On July 21, the Attorney General's Office (FGR) requested a sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison against Ernesto Ruffo Appel, former governor of Baja California, and seven accomplices for organized crime and hydrocarbon smuggling. The indictment links them to at least nine undeclared rail shipments of fuel from the Deer Park refinery, Pemex's Texas subsidiary, to the company Ingemar.

The case originated on September 19, 2025, when Pemex's legal representative, Alejandro Trejo Sepúlveda, filed a complaint following the seizure of 129 tank cars in Coahuila (33 in Ramos Arizpe and 96 in Saltillo), containing over 15 million liters of hydrocarbons without legal documentation. Trejo noted that the volume exceeded the transport capacity of a single person, indicating an organized crime operation. The investigation, led by Attorney General Ernestina Godoy, documented 4,238 irregular import operations between January and July 2025, according to Infobae México.

According to La Jornada, the network operated through 11 companies under a fiscal simulation scheme: Ingemar, founded by Ruffo Appel, received the fuel from Deer Park as consignee, and Internacional de Fundentes appeared as the final recipient in Mexico. At the Matamoros customs office on October 20, 2023, two shipments were declared as basic lubricating oil of 71,923 liters each; laboratory tests revealed that one contained gasoline and the other diesel. In total, authorities identified 163 tank cars carrying approximately 18.2 million liters of petroleum products imported under irregular conditions.

The estimated fiscal damage exceeds 4 billion pesos. The FGR also detected movements of over 3.075 billion pesos across approximately 80 bank accounts and foreign exchange transactions exceeding 1.386 billion dollars. Judge Alejandra Ramírez de la Vega ordered Ruffo Appel held in pretrial detention on July 19 and ordered his confinement at Cefereso No. 1, El Altiplano. Of the 25 arrest warrants issued, eight have been executed and 17 remain pending. The arraignment hearing continues on the afternoon of July 21 at the Federal Criminal Justice Center in Almoloya.

This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.