Cartel member 'The Tank' sanctioned by U.S. on drug smuggling charges

Who is ‘The Tank,’ key funder of cartel’s fentanyl smuggling?

"The Tank" is a senior member of a Jalisco cartel that smuggles fentanyl
Fuel theft ring brings millions in funding for drug trafficking operations
"The Tank" sanctioned by U.S. government for involvement with CJNG

Updated: Sep 13, 2024 / 06:27 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — A Mexican cartel member known as “The Tank” was sanctioned Tuesday for his alleged involvement in fentanyl drug trafficking into the U.S. by leading a million-dollar operation that stole fuel.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Ivan Cazarin Molina, “The Tank,” along with eight others and 26 Mexico-based businesses linked to the theft ring, which generated millions of dollars to fund drug smuggling.

Who is ‘The Tank’?

The 34-year-old is a senior member of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), or Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which is known for trafficking a significant amount of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the U.S.

Allegedly running a network of fuel thefts in the Mexican states of Jalisco and Veracruz, Molina is believed to store the stolen fuel in a tank, his namesake, large enough to hold millions of liters. Family members and associates of his turn around and sell the fuel on the black market, some of it making its way to U.S. businesses. The revenue then helps fund the cartel’s drug smuggling expansion.

Molina also engages in drug trafficking, extortion and homicide, authorities claim.

An image showing members of a cartel fuel theft network. — The U.S. government sanctioned members and leaders of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), who are involved in a fuel theft ring that benefits the cartel’s drug trafficking of fentanyl.

The hunt for ‘The Tank‘

The U.S. government is particularly concerned with the cartel’s continued efforts to get deadly drugs like fentanyl across the border. Those efforts, such as Molina’s fuel theft ring, have gotten more creative and lucrative.

“CJNG’s diverse revenue streams, including fuel theft, ultimately strengthen its ability to traffic fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo in a news release earlier this week.

Illicit fentanyl is manufactured in a lab, increasingly by pressing them into pills made to look like prescription opioids. Someone may think they are taking a Xanax or Percocet but are instead unknowingly ingesting fentanyl. Drug trafficking organizations typically distribute fentanyl by the kilogram, an amount that has the potential to kill 500,000 people, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA’s anti-fentanyl slogan is “One pill can kill.”

The Jalisco cartel produces millions of deadly fentanyl pills, making their way into communities all across the U.S.

The connection between fentanyl trafficking and fuel theft

The fuel theft ring nets tens of millions of dollars per year, profiting from the cartel’s drug trafficking expansion.

Molina steals fuel through illicit taps of state-controlled petroleum company pipelines and stores them in massive tanks. Using the stolen fuel, a network of family members and associates operate legitimate retail gas stations, selling to regular customers, the U.S. Treasury says.

The stolen fuel is also sold to third parties in Mexico, who in turn sell to the U.S. market, mostly in Texas. They also steal fuel from refineries and hijack tanker trucks using bribery and violence.

The Mexican government is also losing billions of dollars in lost revenue from the fuel theft, which became a profitable revenue stream for the cartel in recent years.

Authorities are still looking for the group’s head leader, Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” to who Molina reports. They are offering a $10 million reward for information leading to Cervantes’ arrest.