The command of Mx Federal Police faces new charges in U.S. for protecting a little known cartel, which works with multiple groups

Chivis Martinez  Borderland Beat  Reforma

The most important command of the Sensitive Affairs Unit (UAS) of the Federal Police collaborated with a criminal organization so far little known, called “El Seguimiento 39”.

According to the United States Department of Justice, “39” was a kind of "cartel’s cartel" that worked with multiple criminal groups.

The above, according to the indictment filed yesterday by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn against Iván Reyes Arzate, the former PF command that next Monday was to be released and deported to Mexico, after partially purging a 40-month jail sentence for filter information to the Beltrán Leyva cartel.

The Prosecutor of the Eastern District of New York requested the permanent detention of Reyes Arzate to avoid his return to Mexico, while being prosecuted for the new charges, which focus on the period from September to November 2016.

Federal prosecutors say one of the cartels Arzate assisted, El Seguimiento 39, is associated with the Sinaloa cartel, whose former leader is Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Arzate also allegedly provided sensitive law enforcement information in the mid-2000s to the Beltran Leyva Organization, which was then allied with Guzman's cartel.

Reyes Arzate was directly subordinate to Genaro García Luna and both will be prosecuted by the same Judge. The former Secretary of Public Security ended his administration in December 2012 and Reyes remained until 2017 at the UAS, where he was the main contact of the PF with the DEA. Like García Luna, he was accused of protecting the Beltrans.

El Seguimiento 39 built alliances with the Sinaloa, Jalisco Nueva Generación, del Golfo and Los Zetas cartels.

As a result, El Seguimiento 39 not only moved large amounts of its own cocaine and marijuana to the US, but leaders of other cartels entrusted it sending his drugs, "prosecutor Michael Robotti said in a letter to the Court.

He explained that the group moved South American cocaine from Central America to Mexico, using boats, airplanes and commercial vehicles, and then introduced it to Texas and California.

Robotti said that multiple witnesses confirm that Reyes Arzate protected El Seguimiento 39, "in cooperation with other corrupt Mexican officials," that there are calls and other intercepted communications, and that he admitted in 2017 -when he surrendered in the US- that he had met with the head of El Seguimiento 39.

"For example, in 2016, in his role as commander of the UAS, the defendant learned of a DEA investigation against the Follow-up 39. Shortly after, the defendant met with cartel leaders, he shared information about the investigation and accepted a bribe of 290 thousand dollars, "he said.

Ivan Reyes Arzate Indictmen... by Chivis Martinez on Scribd