Mexican Attorney General Arrested at U.S. Border

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Summary: The Attorney General of the Mexican state, Nayarit, was arrested on charges of conspiring to smuggle drugs.

Mexican state attorney general, Edgar Veytia, was arrested at the U.S. border in San Diego on charges that he conspired to smuggle drugs into the U.S. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Ralph DeSio, federal agents detained Veytia, 46 at the border on an indictment served by a grand jury in New York.

  

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The indictment, filed March 2 in the Eastern District of New York, accuses the top law enforcement official in Nayarit, a western Mexico state along the Pacific coast between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, of planning to smuggle in heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. The seven-page, three-count indictment alleges that Veytia partook in a plan to manufacture and distribute illicit drugs for the purpose of importing them into the United States starting in 2013, the same year he became attorney general. Veytia is accused of conspiring with unnamed persons in the United States between January 2013 and February 2017.

No other details were released except that the DEA, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security are all involved. Mexican media claim to have a link between him and the Jalisco New Generation cartel. Six years ago, an assassination attempt was carried out against Veytia but was unsuccessful. Those responsible were linked to the Sinaloa cartel.

The Eastern District of New York is the same jurisdiction that charged “El Chapo,” the famous Sinaloa cartel leader formally known as Joaquin Guzman. Veytia has a list of aliases as well, including Eepp, Lic veytia, and Diablo.

Veytia is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Facility in San Diego after appearing before a federal magistrate judge. Defense attorney Guadalupe Valencia has been requested by Veytia to represent him during the removal to New York proceedings. The removal hearing is April 11. He will face the criminal charges in New York. Valencia said, “It’s a brand new case. No one has any info other than the indictment.”

Governor of Nayarit, Roberto Sandoval Castaneda, is vowing to continue to uphold safety while Carlos Alberto Rodriquez Valdez takes over as attorney general. He said, “I want to make it clear to the people of Nayarit, men and women, as your governor, I will personally take care of security. We will not lower our guard; we will remain one of the safest states.”

Nayarit, a small and mainly agricultural state, has been hit hard by drug cartels in the last few years. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party governs Nayarit, placing the party, once again, in the limelight. The party has been fighting corruption scandals with intensity, resulting in a number of governors to flee from criminal charges.

Mexican marines, with the aid of a Black Hawk helicopter, killed eight suspected cartel members in the Mexican state two months ago. One of the killed members was the reputed head of the Beltran-Leyva gang, rival to the Sinaloa cartel. The Sinaloa cartel had been run by El Chapo until his arrest and extradition to the United States a few months ago. He has been charged with homicide, money laundering, drug trafficking, and more. Guzman had been held in Mexican maximum-security facilities for several years but they were having trouble hanging on to him. He broke out in 2015 and spent six months evading capture. He was recaptured last January but was able to escape again through a tunnel in his shower.

Do you think Mexico’s corruption is beyond a fixable point? Tell us in the comments below.

To learn more about drug lords, read these articles:

• Lawyer Claims Prison Guard Sexually Harassed “El Chapo”
• Supermodel Druglord Arrested Wednesday
• Venezuelan Vice President Linked to Drug Trafficking

Photo: rednayarit.net