Some 33 bodies found in northern Mexico

Mar 14, 2008, 19:26 GMT

Mexico City - The bones of 33 people were found on one single plot of land in Ciudad Juarez, in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, the Mexican Public Prosecutor's Office said Friday.

The bodies, which preliminary tests said date back five years, were found in 14 clandestine graves at the site. The authorities started digging there March 1, and initially found six bodies.

The prosecutor's office said the site was located following an anonymous phone call and is apparently related to the Juarez drug cartel, commanded by the Carrillo Fuentes family for more than 15 years.

The group became known under the leadership of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who died in 1997 during plastic surgery in Mexico City. The command then went to one of his brothers, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, who according to authorities was still leading the business years later.

A preliminary forensic report indicated that only three of the 33 bodies found were women.

When authorities began the investigation, they thought the graves might be related to a rash of murders of women in Ciudad Juarez. Over 500 women have been killed and some 600 others have disappeared in the border city from 1993 to 2002, according to human rights organizations. Most of the crimes have gone unpunished.