The Sinaloa Cartel reportedly played a key role in finding the suspects of murdering three surfers in Mexico last month.
The Daily Beast spoke to an anonymous cartel member who said that when they learned authorities were "looking for the gringos and those responsible," they called to tell them where to find them. He said they helped finding them because they didn't care for "unwanted attention" from the Mexican authorities.
The surfers, two Australians and an American, were reported missing on April 27 while on a surfing trip near the Mexican state of Baja California. Their bodies were found days later, each one with a gunshot to the head. They were recovered from a cliff-top shaft and in an advanced state of decomposition.
One person has been charged with the crime of forceful disappearance after confessing to killing the three men. Two other people have been arrested. The three are accused to ambushing the surfers to steal their vehicles.
After pulling out the guns, the surfers tried to de-escalate the situation but they were ultimately killed. A friend of the victims who missed the trip, nonetheless, said he believes the men might have tried to resist.
"He probably tried to fight back when these guys came to rob them and they just shot him in the head," Randy Dible told NewsNation.
Baja California is known for its inviting beaches, and its resorts are popular with US tourists, partly because of their proximity to the border. But it's also one of Mexico's most violent states because of organized crime gangs, although cartel activity doesn't commonly affect foreign tourists, AFP said.
The outlet recalled a similar case involving two Australian surfers who were murdered and their bodies burned while traveling in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa in November 2015.
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