MEXICO CITY (AP) — The arrest of an ex-governor of the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas caps a five-year, seemingly desultory search for the ruling-party politician accused of organized crime and money laundering.

U.S. prosecutors have alleged since 2012 that Tomas Yarrington accepted millions of dollars in drug cartel bribes and invested it in Texas real estate. But Mexico didn't offer a reward for his capture until last November.

The current Tamaulipas governor says that for a time after Yarrington left office he even continued to enjoy the protection of government-provided bodyguards.

The long-cold trail finally led to Italy where Yarrington was detained according to an announcement Sunday.

The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party praised the arrest, but it had taken the party four years to expel him after the allegations first surfaced.