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Authorities had to intervene in a modern-day pirate story when armed pirates recently attempted a robbery on a yacht in Cancun. The subjects that boarded the yacht of a family anchored in the Cancun marina were arrested, and nobody was hurt during the incident. While these crimes do not happen often in Cancun, it certainly is not the first time such an incident has occurred.
A similar situation took place on a night in September of last year in the Punta Nizuc area of Cancun. In this case, three men boarded a vessel carrying spear guns and began shouting orders and threatening the family members on board. The family followed the orders of the armed men, who made off with a number of expensive marine items, including a laptop, a camera, and an outboard motor, in addition to cash and other items, after tying the family up.
In last year’s incident, the “pirates” were not caught before they were able to escape with their stolen items, but fortunately, in that situation, nobody was hurt either. It was thought at the time that the armed men arrived at the vessel by way of kayak or other small watercraft. When they escaped, they also made off with an aluminum boat, which along with the watercraft they arrived in was likely used to get away.
The most recent “modern pirate” incident took place this past Saturday. It was a local public servant that announced the attack on his Twitter feed. In the tweet Julián Ricalde Magaña wrote.”This boat carries armed people. They fired pistols, attacked the staff and fled. And with children on board. @semar @FGEQuintanaRoo is from a Cancun marina.”
His message apparently had errors, which were pointed out by other Twitter users, including not tagging the Secretariat of the Navy of Mexico correctly. But it’s obvious that the proper authorities were somehow notified because the group was captured. According to available information, the men who were carrying firearms, assaulted the staff on board before they fled.
It is unclear whether or not the pirates were able to steal anything before fleeing. The important thing is that nobody on board the yacht was hurt, although surely very frightened by the incident. It is also unknown as to where exactly the men were caught, whether they were still in the marina or if they had fled out to sea.
Julián Ricalde Magaña later made another Twitter post where he pointed out that the armed men were captured by authorities. He said, “Quick intervention of the @SEMAR_mx Thanks for helping to share. They already got caught. Complaints will be filed to prevent them from being released for “due pretext”. @FGEQuintanaRoo”. The incident could have been much worse had the proper authorities not been informed in a timely manner and had they been unable to make an arrest.
Mexico is not the only country where modern-day pirate attacks have occurred in recent years, but such attacks are starting to happen less frequently. During the first six months of this year, there were a total of 58 incidents in which armed men boarded and robbed ships that were either out to sea or anchored somewhere. Reports show that this is the lowest number of these crimes to occur since 1994, and with any luck, that number will continue to decline so other boat owners and crews do not have to go through what these individuals just went through.
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