Two Canadians – one wanted by Interpol – have been found dead from knife wounds in the Caribbean coast of the Mexican resort of Playa del Carmen, the state prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors in Quintana Roo, where resorts such as Cancun and Tulum are also located, said the man and woman were found dead Monday at a hotel or condominium in the troubled resort, and a third was injured.
There was no immediate information about their names or hometowns. But prosecutors confirmed that the male victim was on an Interpol wanted list on fraud charges.
“Global Issues Canada is aware of the deaths of two Canadians in Mexico,” the statement said.
“Consular officers are ready to provide consular assistance to families and are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information,” the statement said. “No additional information may be provided for reasons of confidentiality.”
Playa del Carmen has been affected by several cases of foreign violence, most recently in January, when two Canadians were killed at a local resort, apparently over debts between international drug and arms gangs.
In March, police in Playa del Carmen found the bodies of four men dumped near a housing estate. The fact that the bodies were left together in the bushes to the access road suggests a gangster-style murder.
There were a series of brazen acts of violence elsewhere along Mexico’s Riviera coast, the resort’s jewel of the country’s tourism industry.
In November, a shootout on the beach of Puerto Morelos, north of Playa del Carmen, killed two suspected drug dealers.
Authorities said about 15 armed men were from a gang that was apparently challenging control of drug sales there.
In late October, further south in the tranquil destination of Tulum, two tourists – one an Indian-born California travel blogger and the other a German – were caught in the apparent crossfire of rival drug dealers and killed.
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