Announcing a chilling conclusion to the kidnappings reported last weekend, Zacatecas state authorities in Mexico found six bodies and one critically injured individual on a secluded ranch on September 27th. An anonymous government official confirms a link between these bodies and the recent missing teenagers case.
The boys, between the ages 14 and 18, were staying at a ranch in Zacatecas when at around 4 a.m. Sunday, September 24th, groups of armed men in several vehicles invaded their home and abducted them. Following the incident, a substantial search operation was launched. The operational team consisted of the Secretariat of National Defense, the National Guard, and local officers from Villanueva – the precinct where the crime occurred – numbering up to 300 personnel.
Concurrently, the distressed families of these boys have been expressing their frustrations through public protests. Their desire for intensified search efforts for their missing sons led them to block the Zacatecas-Malpaso highway on a Tuesday. Zacatecas has always been notorious for its escalated violence rate despite efforts to control it. Criminal groups regularly duel over lucrative smuggling routes, making this a perilous region, as evidenced by over 500 recorded homicides within just the first eight months of this year.
Zacatecas is not alone in this grim situation. Last month, five young men were tragically duped with counterfeit employment offers and then murdered by a Mexican drug cartel in the neighboring Jalisco state. Locals think that the recent abductions could be connected with these intensifying gang conflicts in the area. However, the officials are yet to announce any determined motives behind the abductions.
