Ex-Sinaloa State Security Official Arrested in US Drug Case

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By Bob Van Voris and Maya Averbuch

May 15, 2026 at 4:59 PM UTC

Updated on

May 15, 2026 at 8:40 PM UTC

A former top security official for the Mexican state of Sinaloa is in US custody, facing charges over his alleged ties to a broad conspiracy to traffic illegal drugs into the US.

Gerardo Merida Sanchez, 66, Sinaloa’s former Minister of Public Security appeared in a Manhattan federal court Friday for a five-minute hearing in which he pleaded not guilty to three felonies.