Mexican authorities seized 10,000 gallons of illicit alcohol after a recent crackdown against 31 resorts, restaurants, and nightclubs in Cancun and Playa del Carmen.
Regulators suspended operations in two locations for unsanitary alcohol and along the way discovered a questionable manufacturer supplying booze to popular tourist hot spots, the Journal Sentinel reported.
That manufacturing company was noted for its “bad manufacturing practices,” but did not release the name of the company.
The wide-reaching crackdown came in the wake of the death of 20-year-old Wisconsin woman, Abbey Conner, in January after a family vacation. She was found in a shallow pool at Iberostar’s Paraiso del Mar in Playa del Carmen where Mexico officials insist she died from drowning. The family suspected otherwise.
Mexican tourist locations popular with young college students, in particular, may have been targeted by these manufacturers for selling tainted alcohol. In particular, Abby Conner’s family believed she drank bootleg alcohol that caused her to fall unconscious before she was found face-down in the shallow pool.
The hotel where Conner died had their lobby bar at the Iberostar Paraiso Maya temporarily shut down by authorities, as part of the crackdown.
