The United States Justice Department on Wednesday filed drug trafficking charges against the governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa and several other officials.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that 10 officials, including Governor Ruben Rocha Moya, are accused of collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel to distribute large volumes of narcotics into the United States.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that it had received extradition requests from the United States for multiple individuals but did not reveal their identities.
Rocha Moya strongly denied the allegations in a statement posted on X, describing the charges as “categorically and absolutely” false.
“This attack isn’t only against me, it’s against the Fourth Transformation,” he stated, referring to the ruling left-leaning Morena, which has governed Mexico since 2018.
Rocha Moya has served as governor of the conflict-affected state of Sinaloa since 2021, a region that has experienced prolonged violence due to clashes between rival factions of the cartel bearing the same name, resulting in thousands of deaths.
Among those charged alongside Rocha Moya are a senator from Morena, the municipal president of the state capital Culiacán, and the deputy prosecutor from the state attorney general’s office.
The Sinaloa Cartel is among six Mexican drug trafficking groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the administration of former US President Donald Trump.