At least 45 bags containing human remains were found in a ravine in the western Mexican state of Jalisco during a search for eight people reported missing last week, local authorities said on Thursday.
“Forty-five bags with human remains have been extracted that belong to both male and female people,” the Jalisco State Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement.
The gruesome discovery was made on Tuesday at the bottom of a 40m ravine in the municipality of Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, a large industrial hub.
Photo: AFP
The authorities had launched a search for two women and six men, all aged about 30, who had been reported missing since about May 20.
The missing person reports for each one had been made separately on different days, but investigators found that they all worked at the same call center.
The call center was in the same area where the human remains were discovered.
Forensic experts have yet to determine the number of victims or their identities.
Initial inquiries suggested that the call center could have been involved in illegal activities, and local media reported that the authorities had found marijuana, a cloth and a cleaning rag with apparent blood stains as well as documents on possible commercial activities.
However, relatives of the missing accused the authorities of seeking to portray the victims as criminals.
In recent years, human remains have been found in bags or unmarked graves in different areas of Jalisco.
In 2021, in Jalisco’s municipality of Tonala, about 70 bags with the remains of 11 people were found. In 2019, the bodies of 29 people were found in 119 bags in an unpopulated area of Zapopan.
Another case that sparked numerous protests in Jalisco was the disappearance in March 2018 of three film students, whose remains were dissolved in acid.
Also in 2018, local media reported that three Italians disappeared, allegedly handed over by police to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, to whom they had allegedly sold faulty machinery.
The Italians have not been found despite massive searches by state and federal law enforcement.
In the first two months of this year alone, the remains of 33 people were found in five makeshift graves in the Guadalajara area, local media reported.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel operates in the state and is one of the most powerful organized crime groups in Mexico. It is embroiled in disputes with other drug syndicates.
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