An ex-government official of Mexico has been arrested on charges that he allowed the Sinaloa cartel, headed by the notorious Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, to continue operating in exchange for multi-million dollar bribes.

Genaro Garcia Luna was arrested in Dallas, Texas, on Monday, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said. Garcia served as Mexico’s secretary of public security between 2006 and 2012.

The former top official was charged with three counts of cocaine trafficking conspiracy and one count of making false statements, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday in a Brooklyn court.

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He is accused of having accepted bribes from the cartel in exchange for offering protection to its members while he was serving under President Felípe Calderón, who waged a bloody war against drug cartels.

It is believed that Garcia is the highest ranking Mexico official ever charged with drug-trafficking in the US.

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