Why an expert on security in Mexico has serious questions about what happened to Australian brothers murdered on surfing trip

An expert has raised big questions about a major theory that has emerged about the brutal deaths of two Australian surfers and their American friend.

The remains of Callum, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, as well as their friend Carter Rhoad, 30, were found dumped in a 150-foot-deep well on a property in Mexico on Saturday, each with a single gunshot wound to the head.

The Robinson brothers, originally from Perth, were on a surfing trip in northern Mexico when they failed to check into an Airbnb near the town of Ensenada in the Baja California region on April 27.

The official story from Baja California’s attorney general is that the trio were merely victims of petty crime.

Police claim the perpetrators saw the traveler’s vehicle and wanted to steal the tires, killing the victims when they resisted.

However, there are still many unresolved questions.

There are suggestions that the notorious Mexican cartels and organized crime gangs were responsible for the killings.

Organized crime investigator Dr. Philip Johnson, a lecturer at the College of Business, Government and Law at Flinders University in Melbourne, told Daily Mail Australia there was not much evidence to support the theory.

“I don’t think there’s anything here that says this came through the chain of command of a drug cartel or any other type of criminal organization,” he said.

“I think it is very important to say that cartels are not organizations with clear memberships, there is no cartel situation with cards.

‘Larger, richer, more powerful organizations work with subcontractors for many different local gangs.

‘So these guys can be relatively small criminals, who are in no way connected to a larger cartel.

“That doesn’t mean they haven’t had any business done for them.”

Dr. Johnson explained that the cartels’ involvement in the violence was due to the impunity with which they were allowed to operate by the state, the police and the military.

“Some cartels are quite well armed and have very experienced ‘soldiers’ so to speak, but what really allows them to do what they do is the fact that they can do it and get away with it and do it again and get away with it ,’ he said.

Dr. Johnson said the fact that another body was found in the well near the Australian brothers and their American friend – who had been dumped earlier – was evidence of this impunity.

The area where the murders took place is currently under the control of the brutal Sinaloa Cartel.

Members of the Sinaloa Cartel claim they have turned over the traveling trio’s killers to authorities.

A representative of the organization denied all allegations and said the cartel turned the perpetrators over to police after becoming concerned about “unwanted attention.”

‘They were low-level robbers who acted alone. But we handed them over,” the Sinaloa member told the newspaper Daily beast.

‘We heard that the police were looking for the gringos and we also started looking for those responsible. We have called the authorities to let them know where to find them.’

Responding to these claims, Dr. Johnson that it was possible that an arm of the Sinaloa Cartel knew about the triple murder or took action after learning about the crime.

‘Larger organizations will be more interested in dealing in large quantities of illegal drugs; they don’t want petty crime to disrupt their smuggling routes and local arrangements,” he said.

Dr. Johnson explained that the “unwanted attention” mentioned by the cartel member could refer to a drug trafficking operation using Ensenada as a transit point.

He said the cartel would prefer minimal oversight by police and media to keep things running smoothly.

“They strive to maintain a quiet and ‘normal’ environment to avoid the attention of federal authorities and higher-level law enforcement, although they may have made arrangements with local law enforcement,” he said.

The execution-style killings of the three victims – who died from a single gunshot wound to the head – also raised questions for Dr. Johnson.

He said this suggested they were cold-blooded, calculated killings, and not simply the result of an opportunistic theft.

“I think it takes some skill and experience to kill people this way,” he said.

“For a relatively minor crime, if you go to the trouble of killing every victim in this way… and making sure there are no survivors or witnesses…

“This idea of ​​theft, some kind of opportunistic theft in a place without regular traffic, in a remote surf spot, seems pretty strange.”

Dr. Johnson suggested the isolated location of the murders seemed an unlikely setting for petty criminals to encounter people with valuables.

“There’s something more here in the interaction between the perpetrators and the victims in these kinds of remote, unlikely locations,” he said.

Dr. Johnson also found the vehicle’s torching surprising and wondered why it was simply not driven away or sold.

“Even if there had been a struggle and there were bloodstains in the vehicle, it was a fairly calculated way to conceal evidence,” he said.

Expert points out major flaw in tire theory

Eltan Talmi is CEO of Tactical Troop, a private security company specialized in Mexico.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, he provided insight into the heinous actions of the cartels in Baja California.

‘According to the organization Causa en ComúnBaja California ended 2023 as the Mexican state with the highest number of atrocities, with a total of 438 incidents,” he said.

“These atrocities include mutilations, mutilations, desecration of corpses, massacres, discovery of clandestine graves, torture and other serious crimes.”

He agrees with the theory that suggests the brothers were killed simply because their tires malfunctioned.

“The tire issue is obviously a cover-up,” he said.

“No one will kill three tourists in Mexico because of ties. You can steal the tapes at night and not attract as much attention.”

He said it seems hasty for authorities to conclude this was just a theft of car parts.

“Although violent car thefts often result in serious injuries or fatalities, there were no reports of violent theft of car parts in the region last year,” he said.

Mr Talmi believes the manner in which the three surfers were killed indicates more sinister intentions.

“Why were there headshots? It is very unlikely that they would be consistently hit on the head when supposedly defending themselves; more likely there would be multiple body shots,” he contributed.

He said the location where the bodies were disposed of indicates that the perpetrators were aware of this well in advance.

“This case may not be about simple crime, but could instead be linked to an organized crime group,” he said.

Mr Talmi said a number of factors led him to conclude this: ‘The presence of a burnt-out vehicle, the dragging of bodies and attempts to conceal these bodies in a pre-existing clandestine grave.’

He agreed with Dr Johnson that it appeared the brutal murders were a tragic case of ‘being in the wrong place at the wrong time’.