Mexican judge accused of taking US$2 million bribe in US drug trafficking case

AP – A Mexican judge is accused of taking a $2 million bribe in exchange for releasing a suspected Canadian drug trafficker from custody in an investigation into a billion-dollar drug trafficking ring, United States officials said on Thursday.

Luiz Benítez Alcántara, 49, was arrested in Colombia on Sunday and faces a nine-count US grand jury indictment charging him with being an accessory after the fact, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

Benítez was overseeing extradition proceedings in Mexico in 2024 for Canadian citizen Andrew Clark, who was charged in the US with helping run a drug trafficking group allegedly headed by former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, the statement said. Benítez released Clark from custody in 2025 after accepting the bribe payment, the statement said.