Police seize 680 litres of petrol in Regla, Havana
Police in the Havana municipality of Regla impounded 680 litres of petrol in 28 containers during an operation against fuel theft. Several people have been detained and face criminal charges.
Operation in Regla: 680 litres of petrol seized and perpetrators detained
The Police in the municipality of Regla, to the east of Havana, seized 680 litres of petrol distributed among 28 containers of 25 litres each during an operation against fuel theft, according to cibercuba.com. The action was publicised through the MININT profile on Facebook "Héroes de Azul en Cuba".
The official statement indicated that the case had been "solved, perpetrators detained and facing criminal charges". Images circulated show a uniformed officer—with badge number 08371—next to a blue motorised vehicle loaded with plastic containers of various colours and sizes, and dozens of containers lined against a wall. The information did not specify how many people were detained or reveal the identity of the alleged perpetrators.
The MININT highlighted that it was the residents themselves who provided information and witnessed the operation, presenting citizen participation as a central element of the police operation's success.
Fuel crisis as context
The seizure takes place amid the worst fuel crisis Cuba has faced in decades. Since late 2025, the island has faced extreme shortages caused by the suspension of Venezuelan oil shipments and the interruption of Mexican supplies on 9 January 2026.
Faced with scarcity, the government eliminated the sale of petrol in Cuban pesos from February 2026, leaving only the dollarised channel with a limit of 20 litres per person and queues lasting up to 26 hours. The official price was set at 2.60 dollars per litre from 15 May, while on the informal market it ranges between six and eight dollars per litre.
This price gap has driven fuel theft and illegal resale throughout the country.
History of similar operations
The Regla case is not the first of its kind. In February, a police operation in Santiago de Cuba seized petrol containers from private homes. In March, police arrested 16 people at Cupet service stations in the Havana municipalities of Playa and Plaza de la Revolución for illegal sale of turns and hoarding.
In April, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz demanded "a firm hand" against fuel theft, with zero tolerance for these crimes and corruption.
Legal framework and severe penalties
The Cuban Penal Code (Law 151 of 2022) and Opinion 475 of the Supreme Court allow fuel theft from the state to be classified as sabotage, with sentences of up to 12 years imprisonment. A worker in Santiago de Cuba was sentenced to this maximum penalty for stealing more than 5,700 litres of diesel intended for generator groups at a hospital.
Regla is a port and industrial zone historically linked to fuel storage and distribution, making it a particularly sensitive point for this type of crime.
Added to the legal risks are physical dangers: Cuban firefighters warned this week of the fire hazard arising from the storage of fuel in non-approved plastic containers, a practice widespread precisely because of the crisis.
Source: Google News CU — Crime