Tulum, Quintana Roo — A state employee who impersonated a federal health inspector to extort hotel owners and business operators in Tulum has been removed from his post, and the investigation is ongoing, Governor Mara Lezama confirmed Friday.
The former official, identified as Emigdio Morales Mezquita, was fired after it emerged that he was leading an extortion ring targeting hotels and merchants in Tulum by posing as an inspector for the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS). In reality, he worked as a clerk at the window of the State Health Services’ (Sesa) Directorate of Protection against Health Risks (DPRIS).
Speaking at her daily press conference, Lezama said she has been in direct contact with business owners across the state. “I want to make something absolutely clear: when there is any type of complaint or extortion — in any crime — we investigate. That is why we have a great team on extortion matters: the Centurion Group,” she said.
She cited a recent case in which the Norwegian consul reported that Norwegian citizens had been extorted by traffic police. The Centurion Group investigated and confirmed the foreigners’ account. Once the facts were verified, the government advised the tourists to file a formal complaint, leading to the arrest of the officers involved.
“They were arrested and remain detained — everything is fully proven. In a political moment like this in Quintana Roo, there is also a lot of information. I personally spoke [about the case]; the official has been removed from his post, but we are investigating him with experts from the Centurion Group. If a crime has been committed, we will be the first to ensure the law is upheld,” Lezama said.
The governor acknowledged that fighting corruption has not been easy, as it was normalized under previous administrations, to the point that those who violated public responsibility laws were called “troublemakers.” Today, she said, every complaint — whether published in the media or expressed by citizens on social media — is analyzed, studied, and diagnosed.
