The bodies of 24 people were found dismembered in a mass grave in Mexico

A Mass grave The remains of 24 people found with dozens of bags of dismembered body parts on the outskirts of Guadalajara last December have been found, Mexican authorities said on Sunday.

Six of them – female and five male – were identified. In the year They disappeared between 2021 and 2023, according to the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office. press release.

“The families of these victims have been notified in advance and have been given full psychological support by the Office of the Deputy Prosecutor for Missing Persons,” the state attorney said.

The remaining 18 have been identified and a search is underway to find the culprits.

Officials said the grave was located using drone thermal cameras and ground-penetrating radar, as well as dog teams.

In the year Since Mexico’s crackdown on drug traffickers in 2006, more than 450,000 people have been killed in the country.

The deaths and the disappearance of tens of thousands of others have been largely blamed on organized crime. Some of the recent violence coincided with Jalisco New Generation Cartel Entering the areas that were once a strong fortress Sinaloa cartelHe is one of the biggest drug traffickers in Mexico.

Jalisco is the Mexican state with the highest number of missing people — 15,382 at the end of last year, according to officials.

Collections in search of missing persons Drug traffickers and other organized crime groups sometimes burn their victims and leave no trace, they say.

The country’s forensic system is overwhelmed, and tens of thousands of unidentified bodies lie unclaimed in morgues or mass graves.

Just last month, Mexican officials said they had recovered in general 31 bodies From wells in Chiapas, a state plagued by cartel violence.

Just days ago, Mexican authorities 12 bodies were found buried in a secret grave In the northern state of Chihuahua.