Six police officers have been shot dead in the central Mexico state of Puebla by suspected fuel thie

Six police officers have been shot dead in the central Mexico state of Puebla by suspected fuel thieves.

Puebla state security secretary Jesus Morales vowed to investigate the incident late Friday and said police had arrested two suspects.

A vehicle carrying natural gas was recuperated from the area near where the officers were killed.

The central state of Puebla has been plagued by violence in recent years as fuel thieves target the pipelines of government-run oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex. Fuel thieves in Mexico drilled 10,363 illegal taps in 2017, or an average of about 28 every day.

In 2016, Mexico’s government estimated thefts cost Pemex about $1 billion for the year.