Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — An Argentine woman living in Playa del Carmen has accused her ex-partner of orchestrating a scheme to plant drugs on her, leading to her detention by local police in what she claims is an attempt to gain custody of their daughter.
Vanessa Garcia, a resident for two years, said the incident occurred recently after she picked up her daughter from daycare. While riding a newly purchased motorcycle near her home, municipal police in patrol car 82283 stopped her for what she described as an unusual check of her registration and driver’s license.
“They checked everything, and since I bought the bike new from a dealership, there was no issue,” Garcia recounted. “They detained me, saying they had to verify if it was reported stolen. I told them it couldn’t be stolen because I purchased it brand new.”
She alleged that after finding nothing irregular, officers planted drugs on her motorcycle to frame her. Garcia believes this was planned by her ex-husband, an Italian national she had previously reported for failing to pay child support and for domestic violence.
“Other police officers arrived and started searching the bike. They had their hands closed and pretended to pull out small bags from underneath,” she said. “I live a very healthy life; all I want is for my daughter to be well. I looked at them and asked, ‘What are you doing?'”
Garcia stated that when she denied the drugs were hers, police asked who owned the motorcycle. After she confirmed it was hers, they responded, “Then what you have is yours,” and arrested her.
“They pulled my daughter from my arm when child protection services arrived, handcuffed me, and put me in the patrol car,” she said. “They kept me standing there for a long time, handcuffed, facing the wall. They spoke to me disrespectfully, saying horrible things, and made me sign blank documents.”
She claimed she signed the documents under threats that she would lose her daughter forever. Police also forced her to pose with the alleged drugs and unlock her phone to access conversations with her ex-partner.
“They said, ‘Do you want to see your daughter? Enter your password.’ I did, and they told me to open the chat with my husband,” Garcia added. “He has a domestic violence report and a child support case. He avoids authorities by installing cameras in his apartment to not answer the door. My daughter cannot go with him because he is violent. He threatened to take her to Italy, and he must be behind all this.”
Garcia was released after authorities could not prove she possessed the substances. She now seeks help to prevent her ex-partner from gaining custody of their daughter.
Her lawyer has called for intervention from local and state authorities to investigate the allegations, including possible police corruption, and to protect Garcia and her daughter from her ex-husband.
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