Alleged fuel smuggler Rear Admiral Fernando Farías Laguna arrived from Argentina on Friday and is now incarcerated at the Altiplano maximum security prison in México state.
Farías — accused of leading a network that siphoned off millions in profits from state oil company Pemex — will face an initial arraignment hearing ahead of what promises to be explosive judicial proceedings.
Fernando “N”, posiblemente relacionado con una compleja red criminal dedicada al contrabando, dispersión y distribución de combustible, es trasladado a México. pic.twitter.com/A96Bh8ToZt
— FGR México (@FGRMexico) August 20, 2026
After months on the run, Farías was arrested in Buenos Aires in April for entering Argentina with a fake passport. Two petitions for asylum were rejected and his challenges against extradition were turned aside. His departure has been categorized as an administrative expulsion.
His brother Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna, a former vice admiral, has been in prison since September 2025. The sibling high-ranking Navy officers allegedly ran a corruption network across several customs posts.
The network was finally exposed in March 2025 and federal authorities swept up 14 suspects — including Manuel Roberto — six months later.
Further heightening the intrigue, the Farías Laguna were nephews of Admiral Rafael Ojeda Durán, the Navy minister during the Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration (2018-2024).
A rear admiral who had reported the scheme to Admiral Ojeda in June 2024 was murdered in November of that year under mysterious circumstances.
Then-Attorney General Alejandro Gertz defended Ojeda’s integrity, saying the admiral himself had approached the authorities to request an investigation into some of the naval officers assigned to custom posts, although no evidence of any such investigation was made public.
The Farías Laguna case has dealt a serious blow to the reputation of the Navy, which had long been considered more disciplined and more reliable than the Army, which has dealt with its fair share of corruption scandals and allegations of human‑rights abuses.
The FGR has built its case against the Farías brothers with testimony from a protected witness known as “Santo,” who claims the suspects controlled the appointment of subordinates in customs offices (which are controlled by the Navy) and paid them substantial bribes.
Once the case goes to trial, Fernando Farías’s defense counsel is expected to summon Ojeda and argue that Farías was a subordinate in the corruption network. The defense is likely to add further fuel to the fire by alluding to allegations that Andrés Manuel López Beltrán — the son of the former president — is linked to the smuggling network.
President Claudia Sheinbaum this week rejected the suggestion that López Beltrán was involved in criminal activity.
The defense has also argued that the United States improperly intervened in Farías’s expulsion from Argentina.
With reports from La Jornada, EFE, El País and SDP Noticias
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