Four men — including an allegedly corrupt police officer — were shot dead near a resort outside Cancun, Mexican officials said Friday.
The victims had all been shot in the head and were discovered on Thursday near the highway leading out of Cancun, according to Luis Rodríguez Bucio, the assistant head of Mexico’s Public Safety Department.
One of the victims was a Cancun police officer who was previously accused of accepting bribes to protect brothels.
The officer was allowed to remain on the force and was on medical leave at the time of his death.
A former local cop was found at the scene going through the pockets of one of the bodies, claiming the dead man was a friend of his. He was detained by the authorities, police said.
The slain men may have been involved in protecting migrant smugglers, the authorities added.
Mexico’s Caribbean coast — particularly Cancun — is frequently used by smugglers to illegally move migrants through the country.
Migrants can move through the region more easily thanks to Cancun’s many airline connections and the number of tourists that visit throughout the year.
The killings could also be related to a raid in which guns and drugs were seized from a property in Cancun earlier this year, Bucio said.
More than two-thirds of the 88 murders that took place throughout Mexico on Thursday were drag cartel-related, officials said.
The drug cartels have also become increasingly involved in migrant smuggling and frequently spar over control of the drug trade in the coastal resorts.
Thursday’s deadly shooting took place just three days after gunmen riding jet skis killed a 12-year-old boy while firing at a rival drug dealer on a beach in Cancun.
The boy was a local resident who was lying on a lounge chair with his family when the shots rang out, prosecutors said.
With Post wires
