Top Mexico official ‘helped smuggle drugs to US’

Mexico’s ex-defence Secretary Gen Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda (Marco Ugarte/AP)

Mexico’s former defence secretary helped smuggle thousands of kilograms of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States in exchange for bribes, according to court documents.

Gen Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, 72, acted on behalf of the H-2 cartel while he was defence secretary from 2012 to 2018 under former president Enrique Pena Nieto, authorities said.