Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — Six people are currently in police custody for the murder of a Playa del Carmen kidnapping victim. Police were made aware of a shooting on a backroad into the Xcalacoco area of north PDC late Friday morning.
At the scene police located a yellow car left behind by the driver during a pursuit by his alleged kidnappers. When the driver of the car crashed-stopped into a tree, his pursuers shot him, removed him from his vehicle and forced him into theirs.
The getaway vehicle was last seen heading up the federal 307 highway toward Cancun. Police intercepted two vehicles described used in the kidnapping, one of which was transporting the victim.
The victim, an adult male, was found dead inside the getaway car. A second vehicle, a van painted as a laundry service vehicle, was also intercepted. According to available information, the van acted as a pilot vehicle for the getaway car transporting the kidnapped man.
Early Friday afternoon, police reported on the arrests of five men and one woman involved in the kidnapping and subsequent death of the man. According to the State Attorney General (FGE), the kidnapping was a clash between rival criminal groups.
Police have identified those captured as José Guadalupe “N”, Luis Alfonso “N”, Ángel “N”, Cristopher “N”, Ángel Eduardo “N” and Consuelo “N”. The were captured after a chase with police. Several of those arrested were reported injured.
In a statement, the Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC) and the Attorney General’s Office (FGE) of the State of Quintana Roo reported “a confrontation between two groups of armed individuals occurred on Federal Highway 307 near Xcalacoco.
“Upon arriving at the scene, municipal police officers, with support from the Peacebuilding Coordination Group, seized a vehicle, which inside a deceased person was found. As a result of the intervention, six people allegedly involved in these incidents were arrested and three firearms were seized,” they said.
In a separate statement, the FGE reported “on the initiation of an investigation stemming from the arrest of six people, five men and one woman, by the Municipal Police of this district, for their probable involvement in the crime of aggravated homicide against a man whose identity is reserved.
“The detainees are José Guadalupe “N”, Luis Alfonso “N”, Ángel “N”, Cristopher “N”, Ángel Eduardo “N” and Consuelo “N”. At the time of their capture, the suspects were seized with three handguns and three vehicles.
Initial investigations link the detainees to being members of a violent criminal group dedicated to the sale and distribution of drugs in the municipality. They are also being investigated for their alleged involvement in a homicide that occurred on April 2 of this year inside a bar in the city.
“Following their arrest, the five men and the woman, along with the seized evidence, were handed over to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Authorities from all levels of government are working in a coordinated manner to bring lawbreakers to justice.
