Nine Bodies Found In Mexico Mass Graves
Updated: Sunday, 12 Sep 2010, 9:26 AM PDT
Published : Sunday, 12 Sep 2010, 9:26 AM PDT

(NewsCore) - Police unearthed nine bodies in two mass graves in Mexico's Morelos state, presumably victims of arrested Mexican-American drug boss Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez, the Public Safety Ministry said Saturday.

The bodies -- seven in Puente de Itxla and two in Tlaltizapan -- were found during a follow-up investigation to Valdez' arrest on August 30.

The probe turned up another four bodies earlier this week also in Puente de Itxla, the ministry said in a statement.

Authorities believe Valdez and drug trafficker Mauro "El Coyote" Gonzalez "ordered the bodies to be buried in those to graves," adding that Gonzalez was arrested earlier this month.

The clandestine burial sites add to the list of mass graves found across Mexico as the result of drug gang violence, which includes 55 bodies found in southern Guerrero state in June and 51 in northern Nuevo Leon in July.

Another 72 bodies were found last month piled up in a warehouse on a ranch in northern Tamaulipas state. A survivor said the 58 men and 14 women were all migrants from Central and South America who were executed for refusing to work for a drug gang.

Known as "La Barbie" for his fair skin, Valdez, 37, was wanted by authorities on both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border. In Mexico he is suspected of dozens of murders in his struggle to take over a rival drug cartel.

More than 28,000 murders are attributed to drug warfare in Mexico since 2006, despite a major, ongoing police-military crackdown on crime by President Felipe Calderon.

http://www.myfoxla.com/dpps/news/world/ ... 12_9604567

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