When Iván Reyes Arzate led the Mexican Federal Police Anti-Drug Unit and was the liaison with the DEA, he started playing for several sides.
In exchange for money, he passed information on the activities and investigations of the US anti-drug agency to members of Mexican cartels, and even revealed the identity of an informant who was tortured, as stated in the legal charges against him.
Reyes Arzate, nicknamed La Reina , surrendered to U.S. authorities in 2017 and the following year was sentenced to three years in prison. Now the former director of the drug trafficking unit in Mexico faces new charges: of trying to traffic cocaine.
In addition, Reyes Arzate is accused of having collaborated to carry out corrupt actions with Genaro García Luna , his former boss and the former manager of all aspects of Mexican security, who is now under the spotlight for links with drug traffickers.
"The defendant took advantage of his position of power and abused the enormous resources of the Mexican Federal Police and the DEA to obtain sensitive information, which he gave to drug traffickers, enabling some of the most violent criminal organizations in the world to commit more crimes" , says the new complaint, made public this Friday.
"The evidence that demonstrates the defendant's corrupt assistance [Reyes Arzate] with the cartels includes, among other things, testimonies of cooperating witnesses who know the crimes first hand and intercepted communications obtained with interventions and hearings with judicial authorization," the document adds. against Reyes Arzate.
The complaint reinforces the history of collusion between the Mexican security apparatus and the organized crime groups that were allegedly pursuing.
A few months ago the federal government of Mexico even acknowledged that in 50 municipalities of the country there are already open investigations for the apparent collusion of local authorities with criminal groups.
Also, in the trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, aka El Chapo and former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, several witnesses said that a considerable number of police officers had received bribes directly from the cartel . Some testimonies even accused very high-level figures, such as García Luna and even former president Felipe Calderón.
The accusation against Reyes Arzate could further affect García Luna, who was arrested in December and is awaiting a possible trial.
It is because the case against La Reina will be carried out in the same Brooklyn court where the process against García Luna is pending and where the trial against El Chapo was carried out .
That way, the proceedings would feed each other in court and the prosecutors would have additional material to argue that García Luna not only collaborated with the Sinaloa Cartel, as stated in his complaint, but also with the Beltrán Leyva Cartel.
The former Secretary of Security already faces a 10-year prison sentence to life imprisonment if convicted.