Mexican Murder Plotter in Canada

(Montreal, Canada) An 18-year-old Mexican, Edwin Scarlotte Mata Lima, was arrested this week for allegedly plotting to abduct and murder a Montreal couple who had won a $27 million lottery jackpot. The couple, Zenovij Pacholuk and Dolores Coffey, won the second-largest lottery windfall in Quebec history.

According to Montreal police, Lima was planning a home invasion in Pacholuk and Coffey's house in the working-class LaSalle neighbourhood, after which the plan was to force Pacholuk to go to the bank to withdraw large sums of money -- possibly as much as $10 million.

Investigators allege he was intending to then kill the couple.

Sources say that Lima chatted up his plan to friends and acquaintances and made overtures to buy a gun. One associate alerted the authorities. Before Lima could obtain a firearm, police intervened.

It's not known whether Lima was in Canada on a valid visa or illegal, but it is known that he displayed immature criminal aptitude. Accomplished extortionists and murderers don't tell everybody what their plans are.

Interestingly, this case has raised questions about the privacy of lottery winners since "Loto-Quebec reserves the right to publish, for advertising purposes, the names, addresses and photos of winners." I'd say that policy effectively paints a bulls-eye on every winner.

Tip: slwlion