In 2025, cargo theft in Mexico showed greater geographical dispersion, although it was concentrated in the most industrialized regions, with the central (51%) and the Bajío (31%) areas registering the highest incidence, with 82% , according to the analysis Mexico: Annual Report 2025 of cargo transport theft .
In the Overhaul Cargo Chronicles webinar , Luis Villatoro, president of the National Association of Vehicle Tracking and Protection Companies (ANERPV) , pointed out that by region, the central-southeast (State of Mexico, Mexico City, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Morelos, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo) accounted for 65% of thefts last year , despite a 13% decrease compared to 2024. The Bajío region (Aguascalientes, Colima, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nayarit, Michoacán, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Zacatecas) showed an 11% increase , reaching 27% of incidents in 2025.
At the state level, 10 states accounted for 82% of the robberies ; the State of Mexico (21%) and Puebla (17%) registered 38% of the cases. Meanwhile, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí, and Michoacán saw increases of between 1% and 2%.
Regarding the timing, Villatoro emphasized that it “remained consistent with the robbery trends observed in 2024,” with 83% of incidents occurring between Tuesday and Friday. The most critical times were nighttime, from 6:00 p.m. to midnight, with 33% of incidents ; morning, from 6:00 a.m. to noon, accounting for 28% of cases; while during the early morning hours, from midnight to 6:00 a.m., the figure was 23%.
“The risk is occurring or increasing right at this time. And what does that have to do with? Probably with the logistics operations themselves, where we are forced to leave at these times in order to meet our objectives, or to have greater possibilities in our logistics operations, because we have the communication route available,” Villatoro pointed out.
By product type, food and beverages accounted for 31% of thefts . This was followed by construction and industrial goods, cars and parts, and miscellaneous items, each with 8%, and fuel with 7%.
According to Villatoro, the dominant modus operandi was interception in transit at 64.1% , while theft from parked vehicles ranked second at 33.1%, concentrated in high-risk areas such as hookah lounges and areas linked to fuel theft. Thefts at facilities remained at 1.4% in 2025.
The president of ANERPV pointed out that the Bajío region accounted for 31% of the nation’s robberies, primarily in the states of Guanajuato (36%), Jalisco (22%), Michoacán (19%), and Querétaro (16%). Furthermore, 38% of the robberies occurred on four main highways: the Querétaro-León highway (MEX-45D) (16%), the Querétaro-San Luis Potosí highway (MEX-57D) (10%), and the Guadalajara-Lagos de Moreno (MEX-80D) and Atlacomulco-Zapotlanejo (MEX-15D) highways (6% each).
Villatoro indicated that cargo theft in Mexico reflects a changing dynamic that responds to social and strategic factors, making it essential to address the four categories that define it: geographic displacement, temporal variation, type of target, and modus operandi. He emphasized that identifying these elements is crucial for strengthening prevention strategies and improving coordination between the private sector and authorities .
“Not everything can be left to that side; we also have to generate prevention strategies based on diagnoses, and the diagnosis comes from the intelligence we can have to identify these sites and consequently see what we are doing,” he concluded.
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