Mexican cops find 49 mutilated bodies in latest drug violence

MONTERREY— Mexican police found the dumped and decapitated bodies of 49 people, probably killed in drug violence, whose hands had been cut off to prevent fingerprint identification.

The mutilated corpses were discovered in black plastic bags close to the northern city of Monterrey, 180 kilometres from the U.S. border.

Jorge Domene, a public safety spokesman for the state of Nuevo Leon, said the victims were 43 men and six women and the bodies had been split into their four limbs and stacked up at the roadside.

The find came days after police discovered the dismembered, decapitated bodies of 18 people in two abandoned vehicles in western Mexico, in what appeared to be a revenge killing involving drug gangs.

Just a few days earlier, there were 23 killings in the city of Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas state that borders the U.S., comprising nine people found hanging from a bridge and 14 others who had been beheaded.

Adrian de la Garza, a prosecutor in Nuevo Leon state, said some of the bodies in Sunday’s shocking find were naked.

A note was found at the scene in which the Zetas — a gang set up by ex-commandos who deserted in the 1990s — claimed responsibility.

Initial investigations indicate that the victims were killed up to 48 hours ago, having likely been transported by truck to where they were found.

Suspected drug gang violence has escalated across the country this month, with scores of deaths having been attributed to massacres and clashes with security forces.

Authorities have blamed much of the deadly violence on battles between the Zetas and groups allied to the Sinaloa Federation of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

The state of Veracruz has become a battleground between the Zetas and Guzman’s Sinaloa grouping.