Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — The group of criminal gang members arrested over the weekend are believed related to several criminal acts. Those acts, according to Raciel López Salazar, include murders, robberies and facade shootings in Playa del Carmen.
State Attorney General head Raciel López Salazar says the five in custody have been connected to five murders as well as robberies and attacks on businesses, he reported during a Monday press conference.
He says ccording to their investigations, the criminal gang members are believed responsible for the August 2024 murder of a man at the Las Miches bar, the February 2025 murder of a man nicknamed “El Colombiano” and the more recent murder of a person at La Cosecha bar in Playa del Carmen.
López Salazar said the group in custody are also believed responsible for the the double homicide and rape of a foreign woman in 2023 at Harry’s Ranch, as well as a shooting attack on a couple traveling in a Voyager van.
They are also accused of shooting at the facades of the Olimpo and Tropicana bars, and are under investigation for their possible involvement in an attempted robbery in December 2024.
During that attempted robbery, the group used a white van they painted to imitate a local delivery company. It is the same van police seized Friday that was repainted to replicate a laundry service.
During the Monday press conference from Cancun, López Salazar explained that on Friday, the group were in pursuit of a man they had been ordered to recruit to sell drugs. The payout for a successful recruitmant, he said, is 30,000 pesos.
The man they were sent to recruit was shot and killed by members of the group Friday. Six people were arrested. One of the criminal group members died later that night while in a Playa del Carmen prison cell.
The State Attorney General said his death was the result of a head injury he suffered during the three vehicle pursuit Friday morning. Police are continuing their investigation into the five they have in custody.
