After alleged ties to cartel, former top Mexican official arrested in Dallas

DALLAS — Federal authorities this week arrested Mexico’s former secretary of public security after he allegedly took millions in bribes to allow a Mexican cartel to “operate with impunity in Mexico,” according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

Genaro Garcia Luna, the secretary of public security from 2006 to 2012, was arrested by federal agents in Dallas, Texas on Monday. On Tuesday, the indictment against him was unsealed.

Federal prosecutors accuse him of at least four offenses: three counts of cocaine trafficking conspiracy and one count of making false statements. If found guilty, he faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

Garcia Luna led Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency from 2001 to 2005 before taking his role of secretary of public security — a position that had him oversee the country’s Federal Police Force.

Despite serving as a top law enforcement official, Garcia Luna allegedly took millions in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel to allow “safe passage for its drug shipments” into the United States. He also allegedly gave them information on rival cartels and law enforcement investigations.

As a result, federal authorities say, the Sinaloa Cartel was able to successfully move “multiton quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the United States,” according to the Department of Justice news release. On at least two occasions, he allegedly personally received bribes from cartel members, in the form of briefcases filled with millions of dollars.

After Garcia Luna left the job, he applied for naturalization in the United States in 2018. During that process, federal prosecutors also accuse him of lying about his criminal activities on his immigration paperwork.

Richard P. Donoghue, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, welcomed the indictment in the news release.

“Garcia Luna stands accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes from ‘El Chapo,’” he said. “Today’s arrest demonstrates our resolve to bring to justice those who help cartels inflict devastating harm on the United States and Mexico, regardless of the positions they held while committing their crimes.”

A variety of federal and state law enforcement agencies were credited for their role in the investigation, including: the New York Police Department, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the local Drug Enforcement Administration offices in New York and Houston.