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Attorney Gen of Mexican state, Edgar Veytia, who holds American and Mexican citizenship held on drug trafficking charges – $250m could be seized

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;240101&semi;"><strong>Attorney general and close ally of the governor Mexican of Mexican Pacific coast state of Nayarit&comma;Edgar Veytia is on trial in New York on drug related charges<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;240101&semi;"><strong><strong>Veytia was a<&sol;strong>rrested March 27  by U&period;S&period; Customs  after he crossed from Tijuana’s <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;240101&semi;"><strong>Feds had charged Veytia with conspiring to manufacture&comma; distribute&comma; import and distribute heroin&comma; cocaine&comma; methamphetamine and marijuana between 2013 and 2017&comma; in NY on Mar 2 <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;240101&semi;"><strong>Prosecutors could seize up to &dollar;250 million linked to Veytia’s alleged criminal activities<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;240101&semi;"><strong>Veytia&comma; 46&comma; who speaks fluent english holds both American and Mexican citizenship&comma; he became attorney general of Nayarit in <&sol;strong><strong>2013<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;240101&semi;"><strong>The man who built the reputation of a no-nonsense crime fighter is now behind bars at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn&comma; NY <&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><strong><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;240101&semi;">Mexican media  allege Veytia’s connected to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generació<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-170372" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;edgar-vetyia2&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Edgar Vetyia2&period;jpg" width&equals;"1200" height&equals;"790" &sol;>The attorney general for the western Mexican state of Nayarit today sits behind bars at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn&comma; New York City facing drug trafficking charges&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The 46-year-old prosecutor was arrested earlier on March 27 after U&period;S&period; border agents stopped him and ran his name as he tried to enter the United States from Mexico&period; Agents discovered there was an arrest warrant for a sealed indictment in federal court in Brooklyn&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;U&period;S&period; officials said Veytia came under suspicion during an investigation of the Beltran Leyva organization&comma; a onetime faction of drug lord Joaquín &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;El Chapo” Guzman’s Sinoloa cartel that broke off and feuded with Guzman&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Brooklyn indictment of March 2&comma; which was unsealed on the March 27&comma; charges Veytia with conspiracy to smuggle cocaine&comma; heroin and methamphetamine to the United States from January 2013 to March 2017&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The court papers indicated that at least 2&comma;200 pounds of marijuana was involved&comma; stating that Veytia turned a huge profit from the illegal drugs business&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;If convicted&comma; the government would seek to seize &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a sum of approximately &dollar;250 million in United States currency” under forfeiture laws&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This was a narco operative hiding in plain sight&comma; feds said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Until his arrest last month at the border on U&period;S&period; drug trafficking charges&comma; Edgar Veytia was a man who lived in two worlds&colon; suburban San Diego and the small&comma; heavily agricultural Mexican Pacific coast state of Nayarit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-170374" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;edgar-veytia3&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Edgar Veytia3&period;jpg" width&equals;"700" height&equals;"400" &sol;><strong>Edgar Veytia &lbrack;white shirt&rsqb; projected the image of a tough crime fighter<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-170379" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;edgar-veytia5&period;png" alt&equals;"Edgar Veytia5&period;png" width&equals;"1023" height&equals;"623" &sol;><strong>Veytia&&num;8217&semi;s platform was &&num;8216&semi;Tough on crime and the cartel&&num;8217&semi;s&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>A report filed by <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sandiegouniontribune&period;com&sol;news&sol;border-baja-california&sol;sd-me-veytia-san-diego-20170411-story&period;html">San Diego Union-tribune<&sol;a> highlights that though born in Tijuana&comma; the disgraced prosecutor acquired U&period;S&period; citizenship early on through his mother&period; He grew up in the San Diego area&comma; attending elementary&comma; middle and high school in San Diego&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It was in Nayarit however&comma; that Veytia rose to the highest echelons of power&comma; becoming a close ally of the governor and holding a number of law enforcement positions before being named the state’s attorney general in 2013&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Veytia who holds dual American and Mexican citizenship projected himself as a no-nonsense crime fighter&comma; with zero tolerance for organized crime&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He survived an armed attack in 2011&comma; and there was even of talk of a gubernatorial run&comma; despite critics who complained of abductions and extortions carried out under his command&comma; and accusations of his ties to drug traffickers&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;At the same time as he was busy navigating Mexico’s law enforcement world&comma; Veytia was maintaining ties north of the border&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Public records link him to a series of San Diego and Chula Vista addresses since 1987&comma; and he and his wife Olimpia own residential property in the affluent Chula Vista neighborhood of San Diego&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Olimpia Veytia also owns a Curves gym franchise less than three miles away from the family’s residence&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-170387" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;edgar-veytia8&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Edgar Veytia8&period;jpg" width&equals;"717" height&equals;"502" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6>Urbane&colon;A man of worlds&comma; Edgar Veytia &lbrack;above&rsqb; and his wife Olimpia &lbrack;below&rsqb; didn&&num;8217&semi;t cross as your run of the mill crass politico<&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-170389" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;eolimpia-veytia1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"EOlimpia Veytia1&period;jpg" width&equals;"900" height&equals;"900" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;While Mexican political figures for years have quietly established second homes in San Diego&comma; Veytia’s story is different&colon; A dual U&period;S&period;-Mexican citizen&comma; he grew up here and continues to have numerous relatives in the area&comma; public records show&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We were bi-nationals&comma; basically&comma; growing up on both sides&comma;” said an uncle&comma; Edward Veytia&comma; who lives in San Diego and said he has not seen his nephew for years&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I don’t remember how he actually made it to Nayarit&period; All I know is that he met somebody there and married&period; The family was well-connected&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sandiegouniontribune&period;com&sol;news&sol;border-baja-california&sol;sd-me-veytia-san-diego-20170411-story&period;html">Union-tribune<&sol;a>&comma; a sister&comma; Vanessa Veytia&comma; owns a produce and seafood wholesale company&comma; San Carlos Veggies &amp&semi; Sea Food&comma; while Miguel Cambero&comma; described in Mexican media reports as Veytia’s brother-in-law&comma; owns a transportation company&comma; Transportes Refrigerados San Carlos&comma; according to records from the California Secretary of State&period; Both businesses share an address on Airway Road in an industrial area near the Otay Mesa border crossing&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Though born in Tijuana&comma; Veytia acquired U&period;S&period; citizenship early on through his mother&comma; and attended elementary&comma; middle and high school in San Diego&comma; said his San Diego-based attorney&comma; Jan Ronis&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The attorney did not know which San Diego schools his client attended but said Veytia graduated from law school in Nayarit&comma; where a registrar’s office employee at the Universidad del Alica in the state capital of Tepic confirmed that Veytia had attended classes from 1992 to 1996&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;A few years later in San Diego&comma; Veytia became a student pilot&comma; taking classes from 2010 to 2013 at Brown Field’s First Flight school&period; In 2011&comma; he obtained a student license from the U&period;S&period; Federal Aviation Administration&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;An account published earlier this month in the Mexico City newspaper Excelsior reported that Veytia arrived in Tepic in the 1990s after meeting Cambero&comma; his future brother-in-law&comma; in Tijuana&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Veytia started out selling used tools purchased in Tijuana to bus drivers&comma; according to the article&comma; and got his first foothold in 1999&comma; when Veytia’s father-in-law gave Veytia’s wife&comma; Olimpia&comma; a permit to operate a bus on a route between the state capital and the city of Compostela&comma; the article stated&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;All I know is that he went to college and ultimately ended up there employed&comma;” said Ronis&comma; his attorney&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The only business I’m aware of right now is his professional life as attorney general of the state of Nayarit&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;Since Veytia’s arrest&comma; Mexican news organizations have been highlighting reports of Veytia’s connections to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;During Veytia’s tenure as attorney general&comma; Nayarit became the cartel’s den and center of operations&comma; according to a report by the Mexico City newspaper Reforma that cited Mexican military sources&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-170401" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;edgar-veytia7&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Edgar Veytia7" width&equals;"724" height&equals;"362" &sol;><strong>Veytia &lbrack;first right&rsqb; seen here with the other members of the political establishment in Nayarit&comma; has held several posts in law enforcement&period; There were talks of a gubernatorial run in 2015<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>The independent Mexican news website Animal Politico&comma; reported this month that Mexican federal prosecutors had conducted at least four investigations of Autobuses Coordinados de Nayarit&comma; a company connected to Cambero but with an address linked to another company that had been owned by Veytia and his wife&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Veytia’s sister&comma; Vanessa&comma; declined to be interviewed when reached by phone&comma; and other immediate family members could not be contacted&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Even though they’d lost touch&comma; his uncle Edward Veytia said he worried about his nephew after learning of the 2011 attack&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When they sprayed his car and he didn’t get out of there&comma; I knew the outcome was not going to be good&comma;” the uncle said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He was a good kid and a Veytia is being held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn&comma; N&period;Y&period;&comma; where he was transferred after his March 27 arrest by U&period;S&period; Customs and Border Protection officers after he crossed from Tijuana’s A&period;L&period; Rodriguez International Airport to San Diego through the Cross-Border Xpress bridge&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;A federal grand jury in New York City on March 2 had charged Veytia with conspiring to manufacture&comma; distribute&comma; import and distribute heroin&comma; cocaine&comma; methamphetamine and marijuana between 2013 and 2017&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The indictment states that prosecutors could seize up to &dollar;250 million linked to Veytia’s alleged criminal activity&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Veytia pleaded not guilty to the charges&period; Earlier this week&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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