Mexican Police Commander Aided, Leaked Information to Drug Cartels

A former high-ranking commander of an intelligence-sharing unit in the Mexican Federal Police faces charges for sharing information with the Beltran Leyva drug cartel in exchange for millions of dollars.

As a top Mexican police commander, Ivan Reyes Arzate, was trusted with the most sensitive information surrounding U.S. investigations of cartel drug traffickers, from Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the violent offshoot faction known as Beltran-Leyva.

A 42-page criminal complaint unsealed in Chicago Wednesday alleged that during a personal meeting with cartel leader Arturo Beltran-Leyva in 2009, Reyes revealed the identity of a DEA informant who had been "instrumental" in securing an indictment against the cartel's bosses.

On Beltran-Leyva's orders, cartel assassins later kidnapped, tortured and killed the informant, according to the complaint.

Reyes, 45, was named in a U.S. district court indictment, just hours after Mexican federal police commissioner Manelich Castilla revealed that an unnamed agent had been charged with obstructing an investigation.

“Reyes was the principal point of contact for information being shared between U.S. law enforcement and the Mexican Federal Police.  He first drew the attention of U.S. authorities in September 2016 while the investigation was active and ongoing,” the DOJ statement read. 

Reyes, who used the code name "La Reina," or "the Queen," was fired in November, charged in February, and turned himself in to authorities after traveling to Chicago voluntarily, according to Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.