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US Charges Ex-Mexican Defence Chief With Drug Trafficking-Related Crimes

© REUTERS / Daniel BecerrilMexico's then Defense Minister General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda attends a flag-raising ceremony honouring the victims of the September 1985 and 2017 earthquakes at Zocalo square in Mexico City, Mexico September 19, 2018. Picture taken September 19, 2018.
Mexico's then Defense Minister General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda attends a flag-raising ceremony honouring the victims of the September 1985 and 2017 earthquakes at Zocalo square in Mexico City, Mexico September 19, 2018. Picture taken September 19, 2018.  - Sputnik International
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Former Mexican Defence Minister Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda has been charged by a US federal grand jury with drug trafficking and conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, an indictment unsealed on Friday revealed.

Cienfuegos faces four counts for his alleged operation to smuggle heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States from December 2015 to February 2017.

Late on Thursday, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Cienfuegos was detained at the airport in Los Angeles, California.

Media reported that Cienfuegos was arrested by US officials at the request of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

A defence minister has never been arrested in the history of Mexico, the report said citing former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castaneda.

Cienfuegos had served as the Mexican defence minister from 2012 to 2018 under former president Enrique Pena Nieto.

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