#dean lucas

Mexican official confirms death of missing Australian surfers

The two charred bodies found in a van in Mexico’s Sinaloa region belong to missing Australians surfers Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, according to Mexican authorities A spokesperson for Marco Antonio Higuera, Sinaloa’s state attorney general, said the bodies found in a burnt-out van belonged to Lucas and Coleman after conducting DNA testing, Reuters reports. See also: Sydney siege victims to be…

Detienen A 3 Que Se Hacían Pasar Por Policías, Por El Asesinato De Los Surfistas Australianos

STAFF / @michangoonga

De acuerdo al titular de la Procuraduría de Justicia del estado de Culiacán, Marco Antonio Higuera Gómez, fueron detenidos tres sujetos por el asesinato de los surfistas australianos Dean Lucas y Adam Coleman.

Julio César González Muñíz, Martín Rogelio Muñíz Ponche y Sergio Simón Benítez González, quien se hace llamar Mario Alberto Barraza Duarte, fueron detenidos el jueves…

Remains found in burned van in Mexico may be missing Australian surfers

Fears are growing for two Australian men who have gone missing in Mexico…

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Michael Koziol, The Age, November 30, 2015

When Australian surfers Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman ventured into the Mexican state of Sinaloa, they must have known they were entering one of the world’s most dangerous territories.

Mr Coleman’s girlfriend Andrea Gomez had warned the pair about “insecurity”. That would be something of an understatement in describing a state of 2.7 million people in which 68 were murdered in September alone.

From what has been established so far, a burnt out Chevrolet identical to the one the pair were driving was found about 200 kilometres south of their last known location. The men were believed to be travelling south to meet Ms Gomez in Guadalajara. The bodies discovered inside the van have not yet been formally identified.

What is clear about the roads through Sinaloa is that they are fraught with danger. The state is synonymous with its extremely powerful and prevalent drug cartel. Various estimates say Sinaloa accounts for between 25 and 50 per cent of all illegal drugs that enter the US--perhaps as high as 70 per cent of those in certain markets, such as Chicago.

Indeed, two years ago that city branded the cartel’s boss, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, as Public Enemy No. 1. That accolade was last held by prohibition-era gangster Al Capone, Chicago Magazine reported.

Sinaloa is bountiful in many things; soybeans, sesame seeds, opium and marijuana. Violence, too. And it has been at the centre of Mexico’s drug trade for the best part of a century.

“Sinaloa is the cradle of the biggest traffickers Mexico has ever known,” a former Mexican drug cop told US media in 2000. “That is where they are being made every day.” The same ex-policeman, Guillermo González Calderoni, was shot and killed by a gunman in Texas three years later.

This year Sinaloa has had the second-highest murder rate of any Mexican state--13.7 killings per 100,000 residents, according to the English language news site El Daily Post. The US State Department advises citizens to defer all non-essential travel to the state, other than the resort town of Mazatlan. “Travel off the toll roads in remote areas of Sinaloa is especially dangerous and should be avoided,” diplomats warn.

Although Sinaloa is unquestionably dangerous territory, in some ways it has its advantages. Its murder rate is still well below that of the country’s most dangerous state, Guerrero, according to official statistics. And the BBC reports the Sinaloa mafia has largely avoided the kidnapping and extortion observed elsewhere in Mexico. Journalist Paul Wood quotes a senior cartel member, Jose, who insists the Sinaloa works with the local police against gunmen from rival cartels. “They are vigilantes for us,” he says.

Last year, Sinaloa’s parliament passed laws restricting the ways journalists can cover crime. According to the Los Angeles Times, reporters will be limited to official government press releases and banned from inspecting crime scenes, recording audio or taking photographs and video.