Tijuana FGE Employee Arrested in San Diego with Multiple Kilos of Cocaine

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Ana Sofia López Osuna, registered with the Baja California State Attorney General's Office as Public Ministry, commissioned to the Tijuana regional prosecutor's office, was apprehended in the United States, the information was confirmed by Edgar Mendoza, the head of the area.

According to the information received unofficially, López was not arrested crossing any of the checkpoints into the United States, but in the city of San Diego, with several kilos of a white powder believed to be cocaine.

Among her belongings, a credential that accredits her as an Agent of the Public Ministry in the Regional Prosecutor's office was found. Authorities on both sides of the border have kept information regarding her apprehension limited.

Ana Sofía López Osuna is around 35 years old. She started working at the Baja California Attorney General's Office (FGE) in 2015 and began as an assistant to the Public Ministry. The FGE Liaison Unit was notified by the United States authorities about the arrest of the official. 

Édgar Mendoza Razo, Regional Prosecutor in Tijuana, confirmed the arrest, although he said that he does not know the reasons behind it. It has been reported that she is the Regional Prosecutor's assistant, but other sources have stated that she was part of the office's administrative duties. According to the transparency data, she was involved in the Human Capital Directorate or the office's HR department. 

Last Thursday, the director in charge of López Osuna noted her absence from work following, and an administrative record was drawn up. "On Thursday she left for lunch and did not return, that is what we know," he concluded.

According to transparency data, she had her contract renewed every three months at the FGE and received a gross salary of 35,000 pesos per month (around $2,000). In 2018, she moved to the city of Mexicali, Baja California, as part of her duties with the BC/Tijuana area office. Ana Sofía's mother has also worked at the FGE for several years, and Ana Sofia has a cousin who was discharged after failing a drug test.

In a similar case, last year, on June 7, 2022, Octavio Andrée Espino Torres, a former Agent of the Public Ministry of the Baja California Prosecutor's Office, was arrested with 29 kilos of methamphetamine hidden in his car, who acted as secretary of the owner, Ricardo Carpio.

Espino tried to present himself as a "blind mule", saying that criminals had inadvertently planted the drug on him, but the prosecutor's office presented his cell phone as evidence that he made agreements for the delivery and movement of the drug and that he had made crossings previously. He fled from justice and from house arrest in April 2023.

Weeks ago, Denisse Ahumada Martínez, a Reynosa City Councilwoman was arrested at a border checkpoint in Texas when 42 kilos of cocaine were found in her SUV. She was released following claims that she was threatened and did not know there were drugs in the Mazda. Shortly after, while being processed to return to Mexico, she was arrested by Texas authorities on charges of narcotics possession.

Sources Milenio, Zeta Tijuana, AFN Tijuana, PNT