Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday a military-assisted crackdown had dramatically reduced fuel theft and uncovered a secret pipe that was used to siphon gasoline out of one of the country’s refineries. Such fuel theft has dropped from 787 truckloads per day to 177 since thousands of soldiers were sent to state-oil company Pemex’s installations last month, Lopez Obrador said at a daily news conference. The crackdown on years of mounting fuel theft is the leftist government’s first major move against corruption and violence after taking office on Dec. 1, but risks angering consumers and hurting the economy. By closing off pipelines and refineries while it traced leakages, the government has triggered shortfalls and long lines at gas stations in at least six states, including Guanajuato, a major car-manufacturing hub in central Mexico. Criminal groups and others who have tapped pipelines […]