Mexico Considers Extradition Request of Ex-Top Cop From U.S.

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico is considering requesting the extradition of a former federal police chief facing drug charges in the U.S., government officials said.

The Mexican attorney general’s office has obtained an arrest warrant for Genaro Garcia Luna on charges of illegal enrichment, giving it the right to ask for his extradition. Mexico has not made the request but is looking into whether to do so, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they can’t comment publicly on the matter.

Garcia Luna is alleged to have illegally earned more than 27 million pesos ($1.3 million), Mexican daily El Universal reported, citing federal government sources it didn’t identify.

Garcia Luna, who served as Mexico’s Secretary of Public Security from 2006 to 2012, has twice pleaded not guilty to drug charges in a Brooklyn court. U.S. prosecutors accuse him of taking millions of dollars in bribes to protect convicted kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s Sinaloa drug cartel.

Earlier this month, the U.S. dropped drug-trafficking charges against former Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos and allowed him to return to Mexico. Mexico threatened to end all cooperation with the U.S. if he wasn’t returned, on the grounds that Washington had violated a 1992 pact that all investigations on Mexican soil must be shared with its government.

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