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The high levels of theft on road cargo vehicles such as trucks, buses, and trains represented a MXN$92,500 million loss in 2017 , according to the Industrial Chamber Confederation of Mexico (CONCAMIN) , and the National Chamber of Freight (CANACAR) .
For cargo trucks only, the number of thefts rose from 5,400 reported cases in 2015 to 10,230 in 2017 . CONCAMIN and CANACAR commissioned International Consultants S.C. to conduct a study on the details of road cargo theft in the country. As a result, they issued a document entitled “ Strategic Agenda on the Impact of Insecurity in the Road Freight Vehicle Sector .”
During the study presentation, Mauricio Milán , assistant manager of International Consultants , pointed out that the states with the most cases of road cargo theft were the State of Mexico, Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Michoacán .
Last year, in the State of Mexico alone, 3,552 road cargo thefts occurred. “The reason behind the high number of thefts in these states is the heavy traffic flow for freight transports, specially on roads leading to the Veracruz port ,” he explained. The average cost of each of these crimes rises to 38,345 Mexican pesos .
Iker De Luisa
, general director of the Mexican Railways Association (AMF) , claimed that there had been a 20 day blockade early this year on the railroad of the Lázaro Cárdenas port in Michoacán , which caused the delay of 360 freight trains .
Afterwards, there was another blockade in the state of Chihuahua , where 151,000 tons of industrial products were delayed, and another one in Veracruz , which caused the delay of 300,000 tons of products.
Besides the blockades, criminals are stopping trains mid-way in order to steal their merchandise.
The sectors which have been most affected by train pillagers are the food and beverage, fuel, and automotive industries.
“They steal batteries and tires from our new cars. Just to obtain a battery that costs MXN$1,500 to MXN$2,000 pesos , which is being sold for 500 pesos in the black market, these criminals are willing to damage our cars to a point where they can no longer function properly upon arrival to export sites, where they are to be distributed to Europe or the United States ,” De Luisa explained.
Last Tuesday, due to the theft of 50 tons of wheat from a train, two automotive plants in Mexico were forced to stop their production.
As for bus thefts, the National Auto-transport for Passage and Tourism (CANAPAT) stated that most of these crimes occur in Puebla and the State of Mexico.
In 2016 , the year with the highest rates of passenger vehicle thefts, 384 units were assaulted and robbed. As for the present year, 119 units have already suffered thefts.
“Road theft impact has risen to a cost of around 40 million pesos in 2018 only,” said José Jiménez Jaime , head of the CANAPAT .
Refugio Muñoz
, president of the Commission on Security and Crime Prevention at CONCAMIN , stated that none of the presidential candidates have even mentioned the problem of freight cargo theft and insecurity thus far.
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