Cancun, Q.R.– A now-former Cancun Transit officer has been arrested in relation to the extortion of an Italian tourist. The tourist, who was visiting the city of Cancun in March, made the official report of being extorted by three Cancun Transit officers after arriving home.
Upon his return to Italy, he filed an official complaint with assistance from the Italian Consult for being extorted of around 50,000 pesos by the three transit officials. On Wednesday, agents from the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) executed an arrest warrant against a former Municipal Traffic Police officer.
Ricardo “N” was arrested “for his alleged involvement in acts possibly constituting the crime of extortion against an Italian victim,” Cancun authorities reported. Now-former officer Ricardo “N” has been accused of extorting the man to avoid arrest.
He was stopped in the city by Transit officers for an alleged traffic violation March 3. According to the unnamed victim, both he and his female passenger were threatened with arrests if he did not pay.
The FGE said in a statement that “the detainee is identified as Ricardo “N” who allegedly, on the night of March 3 of this year along with two other agents, was traveling aboard a police unit when at the intersection of Uxmal and Nader Avenues they stopped the driver of a Mitsubishi vehicle who was accompanied by a woman.
“Once the driver stopped the vehicle, the officers forced him out for a so-called breathalyzer test. They then told him that if he didn’t pay the $200 fee, they would arrest him and his passenger.
“Fearing they would be arrested, the man agreed to give them the money, so the officers took out a bank terminal, entered the victim’s credit card and made two transactions totaling 659.89 euros (approximately 15,000 Mexican pesos).
“They later asked for another card, as they claimed they needed to split the payment into three parts, so he handed over a debit card from which they withdrew another 635.45 euros.
“These events were corroborated through C5 and private surveillance cameras as well as audio recordings provided by the victim, in addition to the workday data for the three officers, who were on duty that date,” Cancun FGE reported.
Following the complaint, local authorities requested and obtained an arrest warrant for the three officers. On May 27, investigative police arrested Ricardo “N.” He was handed over to the requesting authority. Police are still in search of the other two Cancun transit officers involved.
