Tulum, Q.R. — Three Municipal Tulum police officers are being held on charges of the kidnapping of a local man. Authorities say Carmen “N”, Gustavo Isabel “N” and Celiano Gerardo “N” are in custody after stopping the man while driving his car down a one way.
During the stop, the three officers removed the man from his private vehicle, put him in their vehicle then threatened to jail him and impound his vehicle if he did not pay them 40,000 pesos.
To further intimidate him, he was stuck with a firearm and forced to unlock his cell phone to make the 40,000 pesos bank transfer to a third party. In a statement, authorities say all three municipal officers have been charged and remain jailed.
“Due to their alleged involvement in events that probably constitute the crime of express kidnapping to the detriment of a victim, personnel from the State Attorney General’s Office, in collaboration with the Tulum Public Security Secretariat, served an arrest warrant for three police officers belonging to the aforementioned municipal group.
“The now detained were identified as Carmen “N”, Gustavo Isabel “N” and Celiano Gerardo “N” for stopping a driver going the wrong way. After the driver stopped, they forced him out of the vehicle and put him in a patrol car where they immobilized him and deprived him of his freedom while intimidating him by telling him that they would imprison him and his car would be taken to the impound lot if he refused to pay bail,” authorities said in a statement.
“Initial investigations show that the victim was hit with a firearm and threatened and forced to unlock his cell phone to make a bank transfer to a third party’s account for the amount of 40,000 pesos.”
On Monday, a judge ordered their arrests legal and set a hearing date for February 12. They have been ordered to remain in jail during their legal process. Authorities did not provide information on when or where in Tulum the stop happened, nor have they publicly identified the victim.
