Security forces in Mexico have arrested an alleged leader of a notorious cartel who is accused by the U.S. of drug trafficking and a large-scale fuel smuggling operation, authorities said Tuesday.
Ivan Cazarin Molina (a.k.a. “El Tanque”—meaning “The Tank”), was captured on Monday in the town of Zapopan in Jalisco state, security minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said in a social media post.
Mexican authorities say Molina, the alleged regional leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), runs a massive fuel theft network and is linked to homicides, kidnappings and drug trafficking. He is accused of being involved in the attack on a Mexican Army helicopter in Jalisco in 2015 that killed members of the Army and the Federal Police.
Harfuch posted several images of Molina being apprehended by National Guard members and being escorted in handcuffs.
Th U.S. Treasury sanctioned Molina in September 2024, saying he was part of the inner circle of “El Mencho,” the infamous Jalisco cartel leader who was later killed in a military operation.
“Although primarily involved in fuel theft, El Tanque has also engaged in drug trafficking, extortion, and homicide,” the Treasury said at the time. “El Tanque’s fuel theft generates tens of millions of dollars per year for himself and CJNG.”
U.S. authorities allege Molina manages a network of ostensibly legitimate retail gas stations where he sells stolen fuel. He is also accused of selling stolen fuel to third parties in Mexico, who in turn sell it to the U.S. market, often in Texas.
Fuel theft — more commonly known as huachicol in Mexico — has risen to the second most profitable revenue stream for Mexican cartels behind drug trafficking, according to the U.S. Treasury.
“Fuel theft and crude oil smuggling are cash cows for CJNG’s narco-terrorist enterprise, providing a lucrative revenue stream for the group and enabling it to wreak havoc in Mexico and the United States,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in 2025.
One of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations, CJNG is among eight cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government. In August, the State Department offered a $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of its new leader, Juan Carlos González, the California-born stepson of “El Mencho.”
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