Mexican authorities have discovered 48 bags containing human remains in a clandestine grave near Guadalajara, officials confirmed on Thursday, October 23.
The discovery was made in Zapopan, a sprawling municipality on the outskirts of Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state, a region long plagued by violence linked to organized crime and the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Thousands of people have been reported missing in the area in recent years.
According to the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office, the bags were located four weeks ago by a local search group on a vacant lot. Officials said the exact number of victims represented by the remains has not yet been determined.
“We need to make progress on the forensic issue so that we can tell you how many victims this number of bags represents,” said Blanca Trujillo, deputy state prosecutor for missing persons, during a press briefing.
Authorities said the remains would undergo detailed forensic analysis as part of ongoing efforts to identify the victims. Members of the Guerreros Buscadores collective, a volunteer group that searches for missing persons, have been assisting in the recovery operation, alongside the National Commission for the Search for Persons.
Due to the vast size of the search area, heavy machinery has been deployed to aid the excavation.
The discovery adds to a growing list of mass graves uncovered in Jalisco, the Mexican state most severely affected by the country’s crisis of disappearances. More than 127,000 people have been reported missing nationwide since 2006, when the federal government launched a military campaign against drug cartels.
In June 2024, forensic teams recovered the remains of 34 people buried near a residential area in Zapopan. Official figures indicate that Jalisco alone accounts for over 15,900 missing persons cases, with authorities attributing much of the violence to the CJNG.
In February, the United States designated the CJNG as a “foreign terrorist organization,” identifying it as one of the primary cartels responsible for trafficking fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S.
