(DailyAnswer.org) – Mexican authorities have arrested six drug gang members in connection with the brutal murders of at least eight people in Cancun. After five unidentified dismembered bodies were discovered in a motorcycle taxi on January 29 and another three bodies were found dumped in a shallow grave, the six suspects were arrested for allegedly murdering the victims with a machete.
Mexican police seized marijuana, cocaine, and crack from the group and also found in their possession two military firearms and two motorcycles that were allegedly used to transport the dismembered bodies. Prosecutors claim that the gang engaged in extortion, theft, and murder and used minors as lookouts while conducting their crimes.
The attorney general’s office has also arrested 23 people in the tourist hotspot who allegedly ran a drug operation under the guise of a travel agency. The gang failed to deliver sports equipment and travel packages offered to tourists, and prosecutors claim that the second floor of the call center ran a complex operation of arranging drug deals by phone and delivering the drugs by motorcycle.
In Spring 2023, the US State Department issued a warning to travelers advising them to exercise caution, particularly after dark at the beach resorts along Mexican’s Caribbean coast, such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum, that have been plagued with gang violence. An American woman believed to be a tourist and a man from Belize were killed in February 2024 at a club in Tulum. The male victim was a suspected drug dealer. In 2021, an Indian tourist and a German tourist were killed at a restaurant in Tulum in a crossfire between rival drug dealers.
Mexico’s Caribbean coastline is still a popular tourist destination despite the warnings, and the country’s tourist department reported that tourists visiting Mexico spent nearly $31 billion in the country in 2023, a 10% increase compared to what foreign tourists spent in the country in 2022. Quintana Roo’s Attorney General Office identified the six suspects of the machete murders in Cancun as Cristian N, Yobani N, Pablo N, Raul N, Ernesto Alonso N, and Rosario N. Two unnamed minors were also reportedly taken into custody.
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