Mexican authorities said Friday they recovered bodies and human remains believed to be those of workers who went missing from a gold and silver mine in northern Sinaloa last month. The remains were found in El Verde, in the municipality of Concordia, where the mine is located, the Sinaloa state prosecutor’s office said.
The Mexican Attorney General’s Office did not specify how many bodies were recovered, but said one of the sets of remains showed characteristics matching one of the people reported missing. Officials have not yet formally identified the victims; prosecutors said they are taking steps to confirm identities and to collect and analyze evidence from a grave in Concordia where several bodies were discovered.
Vancouver-based miner Vizsla Silver reported on Jan. 28 that 10 workers had been abducted and said it had notified authorities and conducted its own searches. Four people have been arrested on suspicion of having ties to the disappearances, prosecutors said.
Security Minister Omar Garcia said the area where the miners vanished is controlled by the Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa cartel led by the sons of former drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Authorities have not yet established a motive for the kidnappings. Relatives and Reuters interviews indicate the abductions followed threats from organized-crime groups operating in the region, including the Chapitos.
Cartel-related violence and turf battles have gripped parts of Sinaloa for more than a year. In response to rising insecurity and the disappearance of the workers, the federal government increased troop deployments to the state and launched an operation aimed at locating the missing miners.