Five illegal fuel production centers were detected and dismantled in Zulia, according to military sources. With these, there are nine clandestine refineries destroyed in the Mara municipality in recent days, according to reports from the Bolivarian National Guard to which we had access.
In the latest procedures, 41 plastic fuel storage containers, 5,888 liters of diesel, six tanks, a gas cylinder, 45 meters of pipes and 1,040 liters of crude oil were seized, the report reads.
In one of the last illegal production centers, a drill for oil extraction was located. This was in the Santa Lucía sector, Mara municipality. The rig was fully operational, with pipe connections taking the crude to its processing site. The finding was notified to the state-owned PDVSA.
Another of the clandestine centers was in La Jaulita, Mara municipality, Zulia, where they located eight plastic drums, 220 liters of crude oil and 1,708 liters of diesel, according to a report.
In the Siete Minas sector there was also an infrastructure to process crude oil. There they found 800 liters of diesel deposited in four drums, an artisanal tank with 220 liters of crude oil and a gas cylinder. In that same sector of Siete Minas, the military detected another illegal refinery. In it was a tank with 220 liters of crude oil.
And finally, in the La Eneita sector, of the aforementioned municipality of Zulia, the military found another illegal refinery with three artisanal tanks where they had deposited 600 liters of crude oil and 3,300 liters of diesel.
They presume that these illegal refineries supplied fuel to the tancol groups, that is, armed terrorists, Colombian drug traffickers. These individuals have routes to traffic their drug shipments from the neighboring country.
They also suspect that those who installed said infrastructure to process crude oil received advice from technicians who work at PDVSA.
The intelligence agencies have already launched an investigation to find those responsible for the installation of the group of clandestine refineries.
