So far this year, 20 foreigners of different nationalities have been detained at the Cancun Airport, and prosecuted for their alleged participation in federal crimes; 14 of them for possession of weapons for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces, two for possession of cartridges for exclusive use and three more for crimes against health.
In the week that just ended, two women, one of British origin and one American, were transferred to the Center for Social Reintegration (Cereso) in Cancun, the crimes for which they face criminal proceedings are for the introduction of narcotics into the country and for carrying of firearm; both detained minutes after arriving at this tourist destination.
According to the National Survey of the Population Deprived of Liberty (ENPOL), in 2021, 69.7 percent of the population that was in the four Quintana Roo Penitentiary Centers was between 19 and 39 years of age, and the main crimes for which they were sentenced are robbery, illegal carrying of weapons, and illegal possession of drugs; these last two crimes are for which tourists have been sentenced or face prosecution in Mexico.
From January to September, 20 foreigners have managed to circumvent the security filters in the airport terminals of their countries of origin to travel with firearms and drugs, which they try to introduce into Quintana Roo; however, they have not managed to leave the customs area, at the Cancun International Airport (AIC), as they have been busted by agents of the National Guard (GN) and the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM).
Of the 20 detainees who have arrived as tourists in Mexican territory, 16 are of United States nationality, two from Belize, one from the Dominican Republic, and one British, the latter recently arrested while trying to introduce 13 kilos 80 grams of ketamine, a drug considered to be a powerful and dangerous drug, whose effects can cause hallucinations, loss of consciousness, coma, seizures, strokes, suffocation and sudden cardiac arrest.
TYT Newsroom