Report: Cancun police dismiss US college students’ allegations of drug-laced water as ‘exaggerated’
Law enforcement authorities in Mexico claim that the allegations made against a Cancun resort are false and that the Oklahoma State University students were never poisoned or drugged.
The head of the state Attorney General’s Office (FGE), Raciel López Salazar, said an investigation found that none of the students had drugs in their bodies, Riveria Maya News reported.
In a statement to local media, López Salazar said: “Here in Quintana Roo there was no drug trafficking involving fentanyl.” He added that the case had been “exaggerated and classified as simple alcohol consumption.”
Zara Hull and a group of friends were heading to Cancun for a four-day trip, but the trip was quickly cut short after she and Kaylie Pitze took a few sips of the contaminated water.
OKLAHOMA FAMILY RECALLS HOSPITAL NIGHTMARE AFTER COLLEGE STUDENTS ALLEGEDLY DRUGGED AT CANCUN RESORT
College students from Oklahoma were allegedly poisoned while on vacation in Cancun. (Rilee Works via Facebook)
Disturbing photos shared by Hull and her family show the moment Hull and Pitze lost consciousness after drinking water given to them at a pool bar at a Cancun resort.
Hull’s boyfriend, Jake Snider, took both girls to a local hospital after they became ill. There, he described, the nightmare continued.
Stephanie Snider, Jake’s mother, said in a recent social media post that she feared something worse had happened.
“We believe they intended to take her away to abduct her or perhaps even to harvest her organs (we were later told this is a common practice). They would most likely have harmed my son as well, possibly even killed him,” Snider said.
Following the allegations, local authorities discovered during their investigation that the girls were not staying in Cancun as reported, but in a hotel on Isla Mujeres. According to Salazar, their investigation also revealed that their drug tests were negative.
Local authorities classified the case as a suspected “night of drinking” and the girls showed symptoms of alcohol poisoning, Riviera Maya News reported.
OKLAHOMA COLLEGE STUDENTS SAY THEY WERE DRUGGED AT CANCUN RESORT POOL BAR IN HOLIDAY NIGHTMARE
A member of the National Guard patrols a beach in the hotel zone of Cancun, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. Mexico deployed a battalion of nearly 1,500 National Guard troops to Cancun and surrounding beaches after two fatal shootings raised concerns about the safety of the Riviera Maya region, the country’s most popular tourist destination. (Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
As the news agency reported, the allegations made by the families of Hull and Snider have also caught the attention of Tourism Minister Bernardo Cueto, who described it as “a very rare case and a very strange situation that is being investigated.”
In a recent radio interview, Cueto claimed that they had contacted the U.S. consulate to contact the families, but there had been no response.
“Through the consulate we requested more information from the relatives, but there was no response, there was no interest or intention from the relatives to give us more details about what happened,” said Cueto. “I have to tell you very clearly that it seems very strange to me, a very strange situation, because when someone has a health problem in an institution, the first thing you do is report the institution where you may have been poisoned or allegedly poisoned.”
American college students face “guns in the face” on their spring break trip and have three options
National Guard members patrol a beach in the hotel zone of Cancun, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. Mexico deployed a battalion of nearly 1,500 National Guard troops to Cancun and surrounding beaches after two fatal shootings raised concerns about the safety of the Riviera Maya region, the country’s most popular tourist destination. (Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Cueto said to date neither family has ever filed a formal complaint about the incident.
“That’s all we have on this issue. That’s all we have. Unfortunately, it’s a story that has been used to tarnish the image of a destination,” Cueto explained.
He added: “Undoubtedly, any case such as the one believed to have occurred at the destination should be investigated, reported and prosecuted to punish the guilty. However, in this case, it is not known what happened as there has been no formal complaint.”
The Caribbean Business Coordinating Council of Quintana Roo has also intervened, Riviera Maya News reported. The council said it would closely monitor further steps in the case, but suggested that local businesses monitor their customers.
MEXICAN AUTHORITIES ARREST 6 PEOPLE IN CONNECTION WITH GRUEL MACHETE MURDERS IN CANCUN
Oklahoma State University students Zara Hull and Jake Snider were vacationing with friends at a resort in Cancun, Mexico, when things took a near-deadly turn. (Stephanie Snider via Facebook)
Eduardo Martínez González, president of the Caribbean Business Coordinating Council, says hotels, restaurants and bars have been asked to monitor their guests to prevent customers from consuming too much alcohol, which could make them liable.
Nearly 27 hours later, and after reportedly spending thousands of dollars, Hull’s family managed to negotiate with the U.S. Embassy and have her flown to Dallas to continue medical treatment.
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Hull was released from the hospital on Sunday and returned home to Oklahoma with Jake, Snider wrote.
Snider wrote that the name of the resort or hospital is not being disclosed at this time for legal and privacy reasons.
Neither the Hull family nor the Snider family responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
