Mexican authorities launched an investigation into identifying the remains of several individuals spread across 45 bags unearthed in a remote ravine outside Guadalajara.
Police officers had been searching for seven missing call center workers after a tip led them to the Mirador del Bosque ravine on May 30.
Although the exact number of victims and their identities remain unknown, the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office reported that the body parts found in the bags “match the physical characteristics” of the call center employees, according to CNN.
While the circumstances around their disappearance remain unknown, the seven employees were reported missing May 20-22 in Guadalajara.
The recovery of the remains took several days due to the steep terrain and insufficient light, according to the BBC. The remains of both male and female victims were found by the search team of firefighters, police and civil defense officers, and a helicopter unit.
This cartel is one of several behind the traffic of deadly illicit drugs like fentanyl that has been plaguing the United States in recent years, as The Dallas Express reported.
Drug overdoses caused 50,943 deaths in the U.S. in 2021 alone, with nearly a third involving fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In cities like Dallas, where local police forces are approximately 400 officers short of the 4,000 ideal due to staffing issues, drug-related crime can drain already-thinly spread resources. Downtown Dallas appears to be suffering most of all, with a 41 to 1 difference in drug violations logged compared to Fort Worth which points to the need for its own unique security force.
Moreover, the competition over turf between cartels themselves has led to outbreaks of violence on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
International cooperation between the authorities of both countries has been limited by ongoing disagreements with Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and U.S. policymakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who called for a military response to cartel violence, as The Dallas Express reported.
In the meantime, organized crime within Mexico has contributed to a surge in kidnappings, homicides, and other violent crimes, with the U.S. State Department even issuing a travel advisory for several regions.
The number of people reported missing nationwide has ballooned to an estimated 100,000, three-quarters of which are males, according to the BBC.