7 dumped bodies found in Mexico mass grave


Forensic teams search for human remains in a mass grave on the banks of the Lerma River in La Barca in western Mexico (file photo).

Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:8PM GMT

Mexico’s police have pulled 17 bodies from an unmarked grave outside the western city of Guadalajara after arresting a suspected drug trafficker, officials say.

Officers also seized 1,115 kilograms of marijuana as well as methamphetamine and firearms, from the drug trafficker’s home, Jalisco state prosecutor said.

The suspected drug trafficker, 23, is believed to be a hit man, who acknowledged working for a brother of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.

In recent years, drug cartels operating in the state have committed numerous massacres, gunfights and kidnappings as they seek to control smuggling routes into the United States.

In November last year, 33 mutilated bodies were found in 19 ditches in La Barca, on the border between the states of Michoacan and Jalisco.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has pledged to get rid of gang violence that has claimed about 80,000 lives in Mexico since 2007.

However, the steady stream of killings has continued unabated.

Official data show that every month since Nieto took office in December 2012, an additional 1,000 people die in violence linked to drug cartels and the Mexican army is still fighting gangs across large parts of the country.

Recently several vigilante groups have emerged in Guerrero and in the neighboring state of Michoacan. The groups say local police are either unable or unwilling to stop crimes committed by gangs, including cases such as homicides, kidnappings and extortion.

The movement has since grown, posing the biggest security challenge of Pena Nieto's administration.

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