DEA Warns of Mexican Cartel Tactics to Send Drugs to the U.S.

Mexico's drug trafficking organizations employ sophisticated networks to launder their profits, which reach China and other countries, use cryptocurrencies and have now entered the oil theft business, according to a U.S. Drug Control Administration (DEA) report.

The DEA, the U.S. agency responsible for combating drug trafficking, reported that six Mexican cartels steal fuel from Mexican Petroleum (PEMEX) and smuggle it, thus positioning it as one of its main funding channels. “This investigation has found that organized crime is getting or stealing, and then smuggling, PEMEX oil in a sophisticated money laundering scheme based on trade,” the agency notes in its National Threat Assessment 2025 report. Th…