2 Canadians, one wanted by Interpol, found dead in Mexico resort town
Posted June 21, 2022 12:24 pm.
Last Updated June 21, 2022 2:46 pm.
Two Canadians — one of them sought by Interpol — have been found dead of knife wounds in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort town of Playa del Carmen, the state prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.
Prosecutors in Quintana Roo state, also home to resorts like Cancun and Tulum, said the man and the woman were found dead Monday at a hotel or condominium in the troubled resort, and a third person was reported injured.
There was no immediate information on their names or hometowns.
Prosecutors confirmed the male victim was on an Interpol wanted list for fraud charges.
In a statement, Global Affairs Canada said it is “aware of the death of two Canadian Citizens in Mexico.”
“Consular officials stand ready to provide consular assistance to families, and are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information. Due to privacy considerations, no additional information can be provided,” Jason Kung, a spokesperson for the ministry said.
Playa del Carmen has been hit by several instances of violence involving foreigners, most recently in January, when two Canadians were killed at a local resort, apparently because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs.
In March, police in Playa del Carmen found the bodies of four men dumped near a housing development. The fact the bodies were left together in the shrubs beside an access road suggested a gangland-style killing.
There have been a series of brazen acts of violence elsewhere along Mexico’s resort-studded Mayan Riviera coast, the crown jewel of the country’s tourism industry.
In November, a shootout on the beach of Puerto Morelos, just north of Playa del Carmen, left two suspected drug dealers dead. Authorities said some 15 gunmen were from a gang that apparently disputed control of drug sales there.
In late October, farther south in the laid-back destination of Tulum, two tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and the other German — were caught in the apparent crossfire of rival drug dealers and killed.
With files from Cormac Mac Sweeney of CityNews
