Quintana Roo Highway Police Chief Francisco Ríos Removed After Alleged Extortion Backfires

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — The head of Quintana Roo’s highway police and one of his officers were removed from their posts Friday after an alleged extortion attempt in the community of Xul-Ha ended with the officers disarmed and abandoned by suspected criminals.

Francisco Ríos, director of the Highway Police assigned to the state Public Security Department (SSC), and an operational officer under his command were pulled from their positions after the incident, which officials described as a case of corruption and intimidation.

The dismissed commander is part of a group of former Federal Police officers recently installed in key SSC positions. He joins a leadership circle already under scrutiny, including Héctor Valdés, director general of Traffic, and Nicolás, who named himself deputy director of Traffic in Chetumal.

Interception and extortion attempt

The events unfolded around midday Thursday when the officers stopped a white MG vehicle on a stretch of highway. The car carried an active stolen-vehicle report in official security databases.

According to information gathered about the case, the officers allegedly tried to extort the occupants in exchange for not handing them over to the Public Prosecutor’s Office over possession of the stolen vehicle.

The situation changed abruptly when armed men arrived at the scene. Rather than bringing money for the payoff, they came in support of the detained civilians and were believed to be members of an organized crime group active in the southern part of the state.

The men held the state police at gunpoint, neutralized them and stripped them of their service weapons and equipment before fleeing in the same vehicle that had been reported stolen.

Panic alarm and dismissal order

Subdued and unarmed, the officers had to trigger the panic alarm of the institutional alert system to call for help. That request set off internal investigations that led Gov. Mara Lezama to order Ríos’s immediate dismissal.

The SSC has said nothing publicly about the case and has not detailed any failures by the former Federal Police commanders placed in charge of operational divisions, who face mounting criticism.