Architect of Mexico's drug war convicted in US of trafficking

Architect of Mexico's drug war convicted in US of trafficking
Architect of Mexico's drug war convicted in US of trafficking

A once-powerful Mexican government minister was convicted by a US jury of aiding the very drug smuggling he was tasked with cracking down on.

Genaro Garcia Luna, public security minister under Felipe Calderon's presidency from 2006 to 2012, was found guilty on all five counts following a high-profile trial in New York.

The month-long proceedings shone a spotlight on the corruption of the highest ranking Mexican government figure ever to face trial in the United States.

It also opened a window on the vast resources of the Sinaloa Cartel under Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is now serving a life sentence in a US penitentiary.

Garcia Luna was convicted of receiving vast sums of money to allow the very traffickers he was tasked with clamping down on to smuggle tons of cocaine.

He sat impassively in Brooklyn federal court as the guilty verdicts were read out, his wife and two children looking on.

He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a maximum of life behind bars.

"Garcia Luna, who once stood at the pinnacle of law enforcement in Mexico, will now live the rest of his days having been revealed as a traitor to his country and to the honest members of law enforcement who risked their lives to dismantle drug cartels," said US prosecutor Breon Peace, welcoming the verdict.

Prosecutors argued that Garcia Luna, who held high-ranking security positions in Mexico from 2001 until 2012, was the cartel's "partner in crime."