Top Mexican Official Charged for Leaking US Info to El Chapo's Cartel

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Following Genaro Garcia Luna's arrest last month, another former Mexican official has been charged for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to leak US investigation information to El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel, according to an article by Ney York Post.

Also known as "La Reina," or "The Queen," Ivan Reyes Arzate, of the Mexican Federal Police's Sensitive Investigation Unit pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and is being detained without bail. The top law enforcement official is due back in court on February 19.

Reyes Arzate led the Mexican Federal Police's Sensitive Investigation Unit from 2003 to 2016. The unit is responsible for coordinating closely with US law enforcement to combat drug traffickers. This has given him access to sensitive intel about investigations by the Americans that allegedly leaked to the cartels in exchange of money.

"By choosing to align himself with drug traffickers instead of the people of Mexico that he was sworn to protect, Reyes Arzate's corruption ensured the safe passage of massive quantities of illegal narcotics into the United States," stated Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.  "This Office will continue working tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to make enablers of drug cartels answer for their crimes, whoever they are and wherever they operate."

According to the press release from the United States Attorney Office, Donoghue expressed his grateful appreciation to the United States Attorney's Offices for the Southern District of California and the Northern District of Illinois for their assistance on the case.

According to the prosecuting panel, Reyes Arzate in 2016 met personally with leaders of El Seguimiento 39, a drug trafficking ring tied to the Sinaloa Cartel, and leaked them with information on a pending investigation of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Earlier, in the mid-2000s, in exchange for cash bribes, Reyes Arzate allegedly provided sensitive law enforcement information to other Mexican drug cartels, including the Beltran Leyva Organization, which was then a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel led by Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo," the USAO press release further stated. "As a result, these criminal enterprises operated without significant interference from Mexican law enforcement, and imported multi-ton quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the United States."

For tipping them off, Reyes Arzate received a reward of $290,000 from the drug traffickers.

There were also cooperating witnesses who confessed to the authorities that they personally gave bribes to the allegedly corrupt official.

Reyes Arzate is already serving a federal sentence for his illicit activities with the Mexican cartels. In 2018, Arzate was sentenced to 40 months in prison after pleading "no contest" in Chicago federal court to a conspiracy charge.

If convicted of the drug conspiracy charge, Reyes Arzate will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment.

In December, federal agents arrested Genaro Garcia Luna on similar charges. Garcia Luna served as Mexico's secretary of public security from 2006 to 2012. As the secretary of public security, Garcia Luna was in charge of the country's sprawling federal police force.

In November 2018, Jesus "Rey" Zambada, one of the former leaders of the cartel, testified during the four-month trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, that he and another member of the outfit personally delivered bribes to Garcia Luna during his tenure.

Over time, Sinoloa Cartel became one of the biggest traffickers of drugs to the US. Guzman escaped a Mexican jail through a tunnel in 2015, but was later arrested and was extradited to the United States in 2017.

Guzman, 62, was accused of helping export hundreds of tons of cocaine into the US and of conspiring to manufacture and distribute heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana.

For drug trafficking and money laundering, Guzman is currently serving a life sentence at ADX Florence.