Two Men Bound Over for Trial in Playa del Carmen Extortion Case

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A judge has ordered two men to stand trial on extortion charges after prosecutors accused them of demanding monthly protection payments from a local artisan business, the Quintana Roo State Prosecutor’s Office said.

The suspects, identified as Daniel Guillermo “N” and Daniel “N”, are being held in pretrial detention for one year while the investigation continues, officials said. Both are presumed innocent until a court rules otherwise.

According to prosecutors, the two men approached an outdoor artisan stall at the corner of Calle 6 and Quinta Avenida in the Colonia Centro on September 1. They allegedly intimidated the woman managing the stall and demanded 10,000 pesos a month as a protection payment, known in Mexico as a cobro de piso, warning that they would shoot at the business if she refused.

Investigators said that after the verbal threats, one of the suspects gave the victim a phone number and told her to make contact through WhatsApp. They later sent her the details of a bank account where the payments were to be deposited, according to the case file.

The woman filed a formal complaint, prompting the State Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation and request arrest warrants from a control judge. State investigators carried out the warrants and brought the suspects before the court.

At the hearing, the judge reviewed the evidence presented by prosecutors and heard arguments from both sides before ordering criminal proceedings to move forward.