At least 33 bodies found in clandestine graves in Mexico
Search dogs led authorities to the grisly discovery of four clandestine graves containing at least 33 bodies in a sugarcane field in Mexico's Pacific coast state of Nayarit and officials said Wednesday the killings were likely linked to the drug trade.
The graves were found in the township of Xalisco, which has long been the home base of a black-tar heroin trafficking ring that supplied the US West Coast. The discovery comes amid a dispute between drug gangs in Nayarit following the March arrest of the former state attorney general, Edgar Veytia, on US charges of drug smuggling.
Current state Attorney General Petronilo Diaz said local gangs have been engaged in power struggles since Veytia's arrest.
"The assumption is that these were people who were involved with one of the various criminal groups, but I can't say which one," Diaz said, referring to the bodies in the graves. He said some of the bodies had apparently been dismembered before burial.
