Former Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on a Drug Enforcement Administration warrant, three U.S. law enforcement officials told NBC News late Thursday.
The arrest was confirmed by Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard via Twitter, who said he was informed of the detention by the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau.
"The Consul in Los Angeles will be informing me of the charges in the next few hours," wrote Ebrard. "I will keep you posted."
Charges along with the exact details and circumstances of the arrest have yet to be announced. DEA officials did not elaborate on which DEA office was handling Cienfuegos' case.
General Cienfuegos, 72, served as defense minister from 2012 to 2018 under former Mexican President Enrique Peņa Nieto and was a powerful figure in the country's drug war, in which the military battled cartels across the country.
MORE Mexico'''s former defense secretary arrested in L.A. on a DEA warrant