MEXICO CITY, June 2, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - At least 45 bags with human remains
were found in a ravine in the western Mexican state of Jalisco during a
search for seven young people reported missing last week, local authorities
said Thursday.

"Forty-five bags with human remains have been extracted that belong to both
male and female people," the state prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The gruesome discovery was made on Tuesday at the bottom of a 40-meter (120-
foot) ravine in the municipality of Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, a large
industrial hub.

The authorities had launched a search for two women and five men, all aged
around 30 years, who had been reported missing since May 20.

The missing persons reports for each one had been made separately on
different days, but investigators found that they all worked at the same call
center.

The call center was in the same area as where the human remains were
discovered.

Forensic experts have yet to determine the number of victims and their
identities.

Initial inquiries suggested the call center could have been involved in
illegal activities, and local media reported that the authorities had found
marijuana, a cloth and a cleaning rag with apparent blood stains as well as
documents on possible commercial activities.

But relatives of the missing accused the authorities of seeking to
criminalize the victims.
 
In recent years, in different areas of Jalisco, human remains have been found
in bags or in unmarked makeshift graves.

In 2021, in the municipality of Tonala, in Jalisco, some 70 bags with the
human remains of 11 people were found.

And in 2019, the bodies of 29 people were found in 119 bags in an unpopulated
area of Zapopan.

Another case that sparked numerous protests in Jalisco was the disappearance,
in March 2018, of three film students, whose remains were dissolved in acid.

Also in 2018, media reported that three Italians disappeared, allegedly
handed over by police to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, to whom they had
allegedly sold faulty machinery.

The Italians have not been found despite massive searches by state and
federal law enforcement.

According to local media, in the first two months of this year alone, the
remains of 33 people were found in five makeshift graves in the Guadalajara
area.

The Jalisco New Generation cartel operates in the state and is one of the
most powerful organized crime groups in Mexico, and is embroiled in disputes
with other drug syndicates.

Mexico has recorded more than 340,000 murders and some 100,000
disappearances, the majority attributed to criminal organizations, since the
launch of a controversial military anti-drug offensive in December 2006.