Five Headless Bodies Found in Central Mexico

Five headless bodies were found Tuesday in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, state and municipal officials told Efe.

The bodies and their respective heads were found in the early morning hours inside a BMW with Mexico City tags in the city of Cuautitlan Izcalli, a State Security Agency, or ASE, spokesman said.

The victims were discovered in the San Antonio neighborhood and state prosecutors are conducting an investigation, the ASE spokesman said.

The bodies were left in the automobile’s back seat and trunk, while the heads were placed on the windshield, Mexican media reported.

A message from an organized crime group was left, according to media reports, with the bodies.

A body, meanwhile, was found at 7:05 a.m. in a trash bag in the La Mora district of the neighboring city of Naucalpan, the municipal public safety and transit department said.

A message found on the body said the killing was carried out by the “Centro cartel,” municipal police spokesmen told Efe.

Mexico state is one of the regions most affected by drug cartels and other organized crime groups, security experts say.

A total of 15,270 people died in drug-related violence in Mexico last year, and more than 36,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the country’s cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.

Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and Federal Police officers across the country to combat drug cartels and other criminal organizations.

The anti-drug operation, however, has failed to put a dent in the violence due, according to experts, to drug cartels’ ability to buy off the police and even high-ranking officials.

Source: EFE