Mexico Police Shut Down Cancun Beach Over Stolen Sand
Gadling reports that a Cancun beach popular with tourists has been shut down because Mexican police say the sand was stolen. The police say the beach near the Gran Caribe Real Hotel was made from "ill-gotten, illegally accumulated sand." Five of the alleged sand thieves were arrested.
According to the AP release, after Hurricane Wilma washed away much of the resort area's beach in 2005, Mexico spent $19 million replacing it with sand pumped from the sea floor. That sand has been slowly eroding, prompting some resorts to build breakwaters, which keep their beaches nice and sandy, but result in more sand loss for the surrounding beach areas.
The Mexican police are claiming that the resorts who've built these breakwaters are, in effect, stealing the beach from others. They've also detained five people they believe were using pumps to bring up more sand from the ocean floor. Mexico's Attorney General for environmental protection said the beach at the Gran Caribe Real Hotel was made of "ill-gotten, illegally accumulated sand" and decided to shut it down.
The beach is currently covered with yellow police tape so tourists can't use it. A lot of the Gran Caribe Real Hotel's guests are probably asking for a refund right now. Hurricane Wilma devasted some of Cancun's beaches in 2005. Peter Greenberg's post about the incident says, "Mexican beachside resorts depend on their pristine white sand beaches to lure in tourists from around the world. So it is not surprising that some less-than-scrupulous hoteliers might take matters into their own hands to restore what nature has taken away."
