U.S. officials announced on Thursday that a Mexican judge was arrested in Colombia for allegedly accepting $2 million in bribes to release a suspected drug trafficker. The Justice Department identified the judge as 49-year-old Luis Benítez Alcántara, who was overseeing extradition proceedings for Andrew Clark, a Canadian citizen.
The case stems from a 2024 legal proceeding in Mexico where Clark was being held on U.S. charges. Investigators allege that Benítez released Clark from custody after receiving the bribe payments. Clark was arrested days after his release and transferred to the United States to face drug trafficking and murder charges.
Benítez is charged in an indictment with being an accessory after the fact. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the United States will request Benítez's extradition from Colombia to face these charges. It was not reported whether Benítez has legal representation at this time.
The investigation is part of a larger U.S. probe into a multinational drug network allegedly led by Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder. Wedding was arrested in Mexico earlier this year and has pleaded not guilty in California to charges involving cocaine trafficking and murder. The FBI alleges the network moved cocaine from Latin America through Mexico into the United States and Canada.
The U.S. Justice Department says the arrest of a foreign judicial officer for bribery involves a billion-dollar drug trafficking operation, where authorities have already seized millions of dollars in assets, including automobiles, jewelry, and artwork, alongside weapons and cash.
For residents in the United States and Canada, the disruption of this network impacts the volume of illegal narcotics moving across borders. The legal proceedings for Benítez will now shift to an extradition request to Colombia.
Following Wedding's arrest earlier this year, dozens of people have been taken into custody. The next steps involve the formal extradition request for Benítez and ongoing court proceedings for Clark and Wedding in the United States. No specific court dates for Benítez were reported.