Mexican authorities have arrested three suspects in connection with the murder of two Australian surfers. (Representational image)
Mexican authorities have arrested three alleged highway robbers in connection with the suspected murder of two Australian surfers who vanished last month, prosecutors said Friday.
The tourists' burnt-out van was found with two unidentified bodies on November 21 in the violence-plagued northwestern state of Sinaloa, but authorities have not confirmed that the remains belong to the Australians.
The van belonging to Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman was stopped on November 21 by a gang driving a car that flashed police-like lights on a road in Sinaloa, said chief state prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez.
The suspects shot a long-haired man in the face when he resisted the robbery, Higuera told reporters.
The robbers killed the second man, drove the vehicle to another location and "set fire to the van with two bodies inside," Higuera said.
"The documented reports leads to believe that the bodies found inside the burned van could be those of the Australian citizens Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman," he said.
The prosecutor stressed that while the case was being investigated as a murder, DNA tests are due to confirm the identities of the bodies.
Two other suspects are on the run. Prosecutors did not say when the arrests were made.
"These people are part of a criminal group dedicated to vehicle thefts, drug dealing and with a history of committing murders," Higuera said.
Dressed as copsMunicipal and federal police uniforms were seized from the suspects, who wore them to commit highway robberies, the prosecutor said. One of the gang members worked as a lookout, notifying accomplices when he saw vehicles that could be robbed.
Lucas and Coleman, both 33, were last reported to be in the Sinaloa town of Topolobampo on November 20 after arriving on a ferry from the Baja California peninsula.
The two men had driven from Edmonton, Canada and across the United States to Mexico to join Coleman's Mexican girlfriend in the western city of Guadalajara.
Their van was discovered on November 21 on a rural road of the town of Navolato. Last weekend, authorities confirmed the vehicle belonged to the Australians, raising fears about their fate.
Navolato's mayor, Miguel Calderon, described the region as a "Bermuda Triangle" of crimes that include robberies, murders and kidnappings.
Fundraising for parentsMore than $60,000 has been raised on the crowdfunding website www.gofundme.com to help the two men's parents travel to Mexico and bring their sons home.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop voiced "grave concerns" for the young men on Monday.
The Australian foreign affairs department issued a statement on Sunday on behalf of the families saying they were aware of reports that the van had been located and that "a tragic event has occurred."
"The families hold deep fears for the safety of their sons but stress that they are still waiting for details to be confirmed," the statement said.
The state is home to the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel led by fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who broke out of a maximum security prison in July.
While tens of thousands of Mexicans have been killed and 26,000 gone missing in nearly a decade of drug violence, violent attacks on foreign tourists are less common.
In July 2014, the decomposing body of Franco-American Harry Devert was found with signs of strangulation in the southwestern state of Guerrero, six months after he went missing while crossing the country on a motorcycle. He had traveled from New York, hoping to reach Brazil for the World Cup.