Jim Kouri
CSI Mexico: Secret mass grave discovered in Tijuana shocks police
By Jim Kouri
Police investigators and forensics technicians this week dug up bones, body fragments and teeth at a secret mass grave in Tijuana, Mexico, in a discovery that shocked even the most hardened law enforcement veteran.
The excavation project is part of a police search for the possible remains of 60 missing people believed killed in the Mexican drug war. DNA samples will be examined from the remains and compared with tissue samples of the missing people to establish their identities, a U.S. crime scene investigator working as a consultant in Mexico told the Law Enforcement Examiner.
The excavation, which started last week, is being done at a deserted area in the Tijuana vicinity. The location allegedly is owned by Jose Santiago Meza, who was arrested in 2009 and confessed to dumping 300 bodies in vats of acid.
Meza admitted he was paid $600 per week by a drug kingpin to get ready of the bodies of his gang's victims.
Last week, the Mexican government announced the discovery of 59 bodies in mass graves. The bodies were discovered by police officers investigating the hijacking of a busload of civilians by suspected narco-terrorists in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
The location of the mass graves is a known hotspot for violence related to the powerful drug gangs who are terrorizing parts of Mexico.
The bodies were discovered in numerous mass graves in San Fernando, police said, with 43 corpses found in a single grave. It's not known if any of the decayed bodies are those of missing Americans who may have visited Tijuana.
Police officers reported that they had found the graves while investigating reports that buses in the area had been stopped and passengers pulled off and kidnapped. In one police raid, 11 people were arrested, while five people being held captive by the alleged kidnappers were freed.
More than 35,000 Mexicans have died in drug-related violence since the president began deploying the army to fight the cartels in 2006. The Human Rights Commission estimated the number of missing people in Mexico since 2006 at 5,000.
© Jim Kouri
April 12, 2011
Police investigators and forensics technicians this week dug up bones, body fragments and teeth at a secret mass grave in Tijuana, Mexico, in a discovery that shocked even the most hardened law enforcement veteran.
The excavation project is part of a police search for the possible remains of 60 missing people believed killed in the Mexican drug war. DNA samples will be examined from the remains and compared with tissue samples of the missing people to establish their identities, a U.S. crime scene investigator working as a consultant in Mexico told the Law Enforcement Examiner.
The excavation, which started last week, is being done at a deserted area in the Tijuana vicinity. The location allegedly is owned by Jose Santiago Meza, who was arrested in 2009 and confessed to dumping 300 bodies in vats of acid.
Meza admitted he was paid $600 per week by a drug kingpin to get ready of the bodies of his gang's victims.
Last week, the Mexican government announced the discovery of 59 bodies in mass graves. The bodies were discovered by police officers investigating the hijacking of a busload of civilians by suspected narco-terrorists in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
The location of the mass graves is a known hotspot for violence related to the powerful drug gangs who are terrorizing parts of Mexico.
The bodies were discovered in numerous mass graves in San Fernando, police said, with 43 corpses found in a single grave. It's not known if any of the decayed bodies are those of missing Americans who may have visited Tijuana.
Police officers reported that they had found the graves while investigating reports that buses in the area had been stopped and passengers pulled off and kidnapped. In one police raid, 11 people were arrested, while five people being held captive by the alleged kidnappers were freed.
More than 35,000 Mexicans have died in drug-related violence since the president began deploying the army to fight the cartels in 2006. The Human Rights Commission estimated the number of missing people in Mexico since 2006 at 5,000.
© Jim Kouri
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