New York, Nov 18 (AP) A US judge on Wednesday granted the government's request to drop the drug trafficking and money laundering case against former Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos and return him to Mexico.

Acting US Attorney Seth DuCharme told a judge at a hearing in New York that the decision to drop the charges was made by Attorney General William Barr and was based on the “balancing of interests” between pursuing prosecution and of deference to the US's relationship with Mexico.

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Under an agreement signed by prosecutors and the general, Cienfuegos would depart the US for Mexico “expeditiously in the custody of the US Marshals,” Judge Carol Bagley Amon said. He would not be able to contest his removal or claim asylum in the US.

Barr said in a statement on Tuesday that the Justice Department would drop its case so Cienfuegos “may be investigated and, if appropriate, charged, under Mexican law.” Cienfuegos, who was charged in federal court in Brooklyn, was arrested in Los Angeles last month.

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“I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the government's position,” Amon said in granting the request to drop the case.

Cienfuegos, a general who led Mexico's army department for six years under then-President Enrique Peña Nieto, was the highest-ranking former Mexican Cabinet official arrested since top security official Genaro Garcia Luna was arrested in Texas in 2019.

Cienfuegos was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in 2019 and accused of conspiring to participate in an international drug distribution and money laundering scheme. Prosecutors alleged he helped the H-2 cartel smuggle thousands of kilos of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana while he was defense secretary from 2012 to 2018.

Prosecutors said intercepted messages showed that in exchange for bribes, Cienfuegos worked to ensure that the military did not take action against the cartel and that operations were initiated against rivals. He was also accused of introducing cartel leaders to other corrupt Mexican officials.

Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said later at a news conference that Mexico had expressed its displeasure with not being advised of the investigation against Cienfuegos and requested, then received, the evidence against him.

Barr said in a joint statement with Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero that the US Justice Department had made the decision to drop the US case in recognition “of the strong law enforcement partnership between Mexico and the United States, and in the interests of demonstrating our united front against all forms of criminality”.

The Justice Department said it has provided Mexico with evidence collected in the case. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)