[JURIST] Attorney General Edgar Veytia of the state of Nayarit, Mexico, has been arrested on charges of international narcotics trafficking conspiracy, according to court documents [text, PDF] filed by federal officials on Tuesday. The gist of the grand jury indictment obtained on Veytia earlier this month is that Veytia “together with others, did knowingly and intentionally conspire to manufacture and distribute one or more controlled substances, intending, knowing and having reasonable cause to believe that such substances would be unlawfully imported into the United States.” Veytia was taken into custody on Monday [Reuters report] in San Diego by a joint team of FBI, DEA and Homeland Security agents. The arrest was made upon a warrant issued by the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York [official website] earlier this month.

Mexico has been plagued with corruption scandals in the past year further complicating the country’s drug crisis. In January UN Special Rapporteur Michel Forst delivered [JURIST report] a preliminary report recommending to Mexico authorities improvements concerning the protection of human rights defenders after reports [JURIST report] of disappearances in Mexico began to surface. In September the Mexican Supreme Court overturned [JURIST report] two state anti-corruption laws that would have allowed departing governors to choose prosecutors in charge of investigating corruption allegations against them. In June the Mexican Congress passed several anti-corruption bills [JURIST report] that would increase the severity of penalties for corruption charges.