A former state attorney general from Mexico has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in a U.S. drug-trafficking case.

Edgar Veytia received the sentence on Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn.

The 49-year-old Veytia was once chief law enforcement officer in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit.

Authorities said he was bought off by a violent drug cartel while it smuggled cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine into the U.S. from 2013 until his arrest in 2017.

Veytia told the sentencing judge on Thurday that he made a mistake by taking bribes in exchange for using wiretaps and other law enforcement tools to protect the drug cartel.

Veytia is a dual U.S.-Mexico citizen who lived off and on in San Diego.