United States prosecutors have brought charges against Mexico’s Sinaloa state Governor Ruben Rocha Moya and nine current and former officials, accusing them of links to the Sinaloa drug cartel in a move that could strain relations between the two countries.

An indictment unsealed on Wednesday in New York alleges that Rocha Moya, 76, and nine others worked with cartel leaders to move large quantities of narcotics into the US in exchange for political support and bribes.

Prosecutors say that support extended to Rocha Moya’s 2021 election campaign, when members of the cartel’s “Chapitos” faction allegedly helped secure his victory. According to the indictment, cartel operatives kidnapped and threatened opposition candidates and stole ballot papers cast for his rivals to help secure his victory.

Authorities said the scheme was aided by another defendant, Enrique Diaz Vega, who later became Rocha Moya’s secretary of administration and finance, who allegedly provided the cartel with a list of opponents’ names and addresses so they could be pressured into dropping out of the race.

The US Justice Department said most of the suspects were aligned with the sons of the Sinaloa cartel cofounder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in the US.

“The Sinaloa Cartel is not just trafficking deadly drugs, it is a designated terrorist organization that relies on corruption and bribery to drive violence and profit,” said Terrance Cole, administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

“This indictment exposes a deliberate effort to undermine public institutions and put American lives at risk,” Cole said in a statement. “The defendants allegedly used positions of trust to protect cartel operations.”

Rocha Moya has rejected the charges, calling them baseless and without evidence. In a statement, he said the accusations were part of a broader political attack, not just against him, but against the governing Morena movement and its leadership.

The state governor also told residents of Sinaloa that he would confront the claims “with dignity” and demonstrate that they lack any foundation.

Translation: I categorically and absolutely reject the accusations made against me by the Southern District of New York Federal Prosecutor’s Office, as they lack any truth or foundation whatsoever. And this will be demonstrated, with full force, at the appropriate time.

The Mexican government said in a statement that the US documents requesting the arrests and potential extraditions lacked sufficient evidence.

Rare move signals shift in US strategy

Indictments against sitting senior Mexican politicians are rare, and the case could point to a shift in Washington’s approach to tackling drug cartels, with increased attention on alleged links between organised crime and political figures.

“It certainly is a change in US strategy to go after a sitting government official,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on non-state armed groups at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, DC.

“It’s long been considered a very big step, almost a ‘nuclear option’,” she said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more indictments to follow,” Felbab-Brown told Al Jazeera.

“Although Rocha is the eye of the storm, the storm is much wider than him,” she said, describing the case as part of a broad sweep against the alleged crime-politics nexus in Sinaloa.

Among those indicted, at least three officials, including Rocha and a Mexican senator, were affiliated with President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Morena party, while others held roles outside formal party structures, she added.

Translation: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received requests for provisional arrest for the purposes of extradition, which will be forwarded to the Attorney General’s Office. No evidence is attached to the documents.”

‘A political headache for Sheinbaum’

The case adds pressure on Sheinbaum, given Rocha Moya’s ties to the governing Morena party and his close relationship with former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Rocha Moya, a longtime Morena figure and former senator, won the Sinaloa governorship in 2021 and has remained politically aligned with Lopez Obrador.

“It’s a real political headache for Sheinbaum,” Felbab-Brown said, adding that how she responds in the coming days, including whether to act against the governor, could have significant diplomatic and domestic consequences.

“If she does not act against him, including potentially arresting or extraditing him to the US, the US will feel very alienated at a time of USMCA negotiations,” she said, referring to the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

“If she does act against him, it could undermine her ability to control the Morena party and perhaps even jeopardise her political position,” she added.

The case comes as Mexico’s government has stepped up efforts to confront powerful drug cartels, with a series of high-profile operations targeting organised crime figures in recent months, including the killing by security forces of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, who led the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel.