Mexican Attorney General Edgar Veytia has been arrested at the US-Mexico border south of San Diego on drug trafficking charges after allegedly attempting to smuggle heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine into the United States while using diplomatic privileges to clear border control.
However U.S. authorities became wise to Edgar Veytia’s game months ago, and the state of New York filed drug trafficking charges against the Attorney General on March 2, leading to his arrest at the border on Monday, according to the indictment.
Attorney General Veytia, also known as “Diablo” in his native Nayarit, Mexico, was taken into custody Monday at the Cross Border Xpress bridge, which links Tijuana Airport to the United States, U.S. Customs and Border Protection representative Ralph Desio confirmed.
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NBC San Diego reports: A lawyer for Veytia told NBC News he was just learning about the case and couldn’t comment. Law enforcement sources told NBC News that Veytia was on their radar for some time and he was arrested as soon as possible.
Veytia allegedly smuggled the drugs between January 2013 and February 2017. The indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court of Eastern New York, links Veytia with at least one kilogram of heroin, five kilograms of cocaine, 500 grams of methamphetamine and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana smuggled into the country.
During that same, Veytia allegedly knew of and would attempt illegal importation of those drugs outside the U.S. as well.
Federal prison records show Veytia remains in a San Diego lock-up, with a hearing scheduled Aprill 11 for removal to New York.
If convicted, the U.S. would seek at least $250 million from Veytia in property linked to drug manufacturing and distributing, according to the indictment.
