Former Sinaloa Secretary of Public Security Gerardo Mérida was arrested last Monday in Arizona, according to a court document released this Friday. Mérida, 66, is one of 10 Sinaloa officials, including Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, wanted by U.S. authorities for allegedly having ties to organized crime. Following his arrest, he was turned over to federal authorities, where he faces charges such as drug trafficking conspiracy and weapons possession. Mérida appeared in federal court the same day he was arrested and was subsequently transferred to the Southern District of New York to face the charges.
The Security Cabinet reported shortly after news broke that the former Sinaloa Secretary of Public Security surrendered to U.S. authorities last Monday, after entering Mexico from Sonora and crossing through the Nogales Port of Entry in Arizona, “where he was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.” “The Cabinet maintains institutional communication with U.S. authorities, within the framework of international cooperation mechanisms,” the agency stated in a press release shared on social media.
A federal judge temporarily halted Mérida’s arrest and extradition to the United States last week, days after he filed an injunction on May 1. The court document states: “The extradition of the plaintiff, Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, or any act tending to execute any provisional arrest warrant, seizure order, location order, or any other act that may exist for the purpose of carrying out the extradition, is hereby suspended.” The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) records show that Mérida is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the same prison as Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
