Robber hits van in Mexico’s Cancun, takes tourist hostage

Prosecutors in Mexico’s Caribbean resort of Cancun say an armed man robbed passengers on an intercity van and briefly took a foreign tourist hostage to make his getaway.

The prosecutor’s office says the hostage was found a short time later “unharmed.” The office did not identify the woman, but local media reported she is a Spanish citizen.

The van set out from Cancun and was heading south to the nearby beach town of Playa del Carmen when the robbery occurred Sunday.

Cancun had largely been spared the drug violence that affected many other parts of Mexico until a few years ago. Since then, the city’s murder rate has spiked and the notorious Jalisco cartel is said to be moving into the resort.