Once or twice a week, police officers at the Mexico City airport would receive a strange order over the radio: "From now on, for 45 all 35," Raúl Arellano Aguilera, a former agent of the Mexican Federal Police, said on Tuesday before a federal court in New York.
From then until further notice, he explained, they couldn't act as police, they couldn't check bags or make arrests.
It was a
standby
order that usually lasted between one and two hours, the witness told the jury, a police code known to all: for orders from above (45), everyone is pending (35);
and it coincided with the arrival of certain planes.
Arellano Aguilera described the mechanism when questioned by the Prosecutor's Office about what he witnessed in 2007 as an airport agent during the session on Tuesday of the trial against former Mexican Security Secretary Genaro García Luna, accused of receiving bribes from drug trafficking to provide protection and help.
“We had to remain in the area without making arrests or checking anyone,” he said, “it was a strange order: at any moment a crime could arise and we couldn't do anything.”
Raúl Arellano Aguilera, a retired officer of the Mexican Federal Police, gives his testimony in the trial against Genaro García Luna, in New York.
jane rosenberg
Arellano Aguilera took the stand after a series of witnesses from the Prosecutor's Office that includes former drug lords such as Sergio
El Grande
Villarreal Barragán, former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel;
and Óscar
El Lobo
Nava Valencia, from the criminal group El Milenio.
The testimonies have provided clues so far about how the drug business linked to Mexican politics would have worked, including everything from notices to save drug leaders from anti-drug operations, to the logistical assistance provided by the feds to move or even barter shipments.
The defense has questioned these accounts, citing a lack of evidence such as recordings and pointing out that the witnesses are convicted drug traffickers.
García Luna has denied all the accusations.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Arellano Aguilera also assured that he heard some colleagues from a special group that did act during those orders -- and seemed to have certain benefits -- saying that during those moments in which police actions were suspended, drugs and money had passed through the airport.
The ex-policeman's account coincides, in this sense, with some parts of the testimonies of
El Grande
and
El Lobo
about how they operated at the airport in Mexico.
Arellano Aguilera said that he was in the federal police for nine years and left "very disappointed and worn out" because "the principles that they had taught me had been trampled on."
Precisely this Monday, Óscar
El Lobo
Nava Valencia, former leader of the Milenio Cartel, assured the jury that the Sinaloa cartel paid millions to Genaro García Luna and some of his collaborators to ensure that the drug and the money they obtained from its sale transited freely through airports and highways of the country.
El Lobo
said that he heard from Arturo Beltrán, former leader of the Beltrán Leyva organization, talking about the politician's collaboration with the Sinaloa Cartel.
"Arturo Beltrán said that we had better security at the airports and we had the opportunity to receive information to attack our rivals," he said.
According to
El Lobo,
on several occasions they transported drugs from Central American countries directly to the airport in the Mexican capital and some employees of the air terminal were in charge of moving the cargo.
The Wolf also assured that it was
A special group with "advantages"
The ex-policeman explained that during those orders, some fellow agents would leave their posts and return when they finished.
The orders to suspend actions, he assured, usually coincided with the arrival of flights from South America and the departure of flights to the United States and Europe.
The agents who withdrew belonged to a "special group", he explained to the jury, "of about 30 elements", and they had many advantages such as being late without problems.
"They used to bring luxury vehicles and jewelry," he said, something that he could not access because of his salary.
This 2008 file photo shows Federal Police agents from the anti-drug unit assigned to the area under the control of the Sinaloa Cartel.
OMAR TORRES / AFP via Getty Images
A black suitcase in sight
Arellano Aguilera also recounted that the head of airport security used to meet with heads of other airports in the country Tijuana, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Cancún and the state of Mexico, and that they usually brought small briefcases to the meetings.
["Black suitcases full of money" belonging to the drug trafficker arrived at García Luna when he was secretary, a witness from the Prosecutor's Office assures]
Arellano Aguilera affirmed that on one occasion he witnessed how, when an airport manager entered, he collided with an agent and his suitcase fell.
"And when he opens up, he had money," he said, "he had dollars."
“I was very surprised: There was no reason for me to bring money to the boss,” he said.
'El Lobo' alleges that he directly paid more than 10,000,000 dollars to Genaro García Luna
Jan 31, 202300:33
Former drug traffickers have spoken before the same podium about alleged "black suitcases" full of money that were delivered to García Luna in exchange for favors as confidential information.
Millions of dollars were collected in the Sinaloa Cartel for the former official, who would have received money first in person and then through his right hand, between 2001 and 2012. As the cartel grew, more money was granted.