Cartel-Linked Former Mexican Police Officer Sentenced To 25 Years For Meth Trafficking, Arms Smuggling

Former Mexican police officer Rene Hernandez-Cordero, who was also a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for various crimes, including conspiracy to distribute meth.

According to the United States Attorney's Office Western District of Texas, the 52-year-old has also been sentenced to 15 years for illegally buying and trafficking firearms and five years for conspiracy to smuggle massive amounts of money in cash.

The former police officer, based in Mexico's Ciudad Juárez, will receive all the sentences simultaneously. Hernandez-Cordero was linked with criminals who smuggled firearms into Mexico and brought meth into the United States, as per a report published by KTSM, Border Report mentioned.

Last year, Hernandez-Cordero and his 53-year-old co-defendant Jesus Gerardo Ramos met at a gas station in El Paso to pick up 20 AK-47s and two Barrett .50 rifles, which were supposed to be smuggled into Mexico.

Ramos, who had already pleaded guilty to one count of firearms trafficking, will be sentenced on Sept. 26. Another defendant, 21-year-old Brian Alexis Munoz Castro also pleaded guilty to firearms charges and conspiracy to distribute meth. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 23.

The last defendant, 38-year-old Maria Del Rosario Navarro Sanchez, also known as "Chayo" or "Fernanda," was still on the run. She has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to distribute meth, one count of illegally buying firearms and one count of firearms trafficking.

In July, a group of three bipartisan House members introduced a bill, "Stop Fentanyl at the Border Act," to reduce the flow of fentanyl at the U.S. southern border.

The bill proposes allocating over $5 billion to increase staffing and technology to detect illegal drugs, weapons and other contraband being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Around 74,000 Americans died in 2022 from overdoses of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, as per the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Besides using the Non-Intrusive Inspection Systems, the new bill would also fund more law enforcement officers and border personnel.