Three Bodies, Human Remains Found in Septic Tanks at Suspected Cartel Site in Sinaloa

For years, Mexican drug cartels and other criminal organizations have used clandestine graves to dispose of their victims' bodies and cover their tracks. Ditches, deep holes and makeshift cremation furnaces have been among the most common methods. But according to a recent report, cartel members in northern Mexico are now using septic tanks to hide and dispose of victims.

That claim is supported by an alleged victim who escaped an attack in October 2024 by cartel gunmen in Tacuichamona, Sinaloa, a small community less than 40 miles southeast of Culiacán.

According to the Mexican news outlet Proceso, the man contacted Sabuesos Guerreras, a nonprofit group dedicated to locating missing persons in Mexico, after authorities ignored his complaint.

The person told members of the group he had been traveling with four others to Mazatlán when they were attacked by armed men at a nearby convenience store. The attackers then took them to a vacant lot used as a wastewater treatment plant, stripped them of their clothes and opened fire. The bodies were later dumped into septic tanks, he said.

The man survived and remained inside one of the tanks for 24 hours before escaping. Several months later he contacted María Isabel Cruz Bernal, president of Sabuesos Guerreras, to report the site's location.

"I knew we were going to find something here, but I still can't believe it — this is losing all sense of humanity," Cruz Bernal told Proceso.

She said the group notified the Sinaloa state prosecutor's office, but officials claimed they had already investigated the site and found the information to be false.

"But no, if you had heard the young man, you'd know he wasn't lying — so we came. As soon as we opened the first grave, a body floated up, then another, and another."

According to Cruz Bernal, three bodies were found inside the tanks on May 16.

"One of them still showed signs of fear, of pain," she said.

Further investigation at the site has uncovered more evidence that the treatment plant was used by criminal groups to dispose of bodies. Volunteers and officials have recovered human bone fragments — including ribs, shoulder blades and a phalanx — submerged in sewage.

Eight Months of Turf Wars in Sinaloa

Homicides and disappearances have surged in Sinaloa since an internal conflict erupted in September 2024 between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, including Los Chapitos and La Mayiza, over control of the organization.

As of May 21, 1,325 homicides have been reported in the state during the eight-month span, according to the news outlet Noroeste. During the same period, disappearances and suspected abductions have reached 1,454.

But according to Proceso, most of those who have gone missing remain unaccounted for. Of the nearly 1,500 reported missing, only 35% have been found — and only 25% of that number were found alive.

Just last month, volunteers from Sabuesos Guerreras discovered what appeared to be a clandestine cemetery where 13 decomposing bodies were found.

The Mexican government has stopped tracking clandestine graves

According to El País, the Mexican government has largely "given up" on tracking the number of clandestine graves discovered across the country. The outlet notes that the last official effort to maintain an up-to-date record came in 2023. At that time, authorities knew of 5,698 clandestine graves that had been discovered between 2006 and 2023.

That number has likely increased, as communities across Mexico continue to report new discoveries on a near-weekly basis.

Amid the growing controversy surrounding the Izaguirre Ranch case in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, the federal government quietly disabled public access to the website that had tracked the locations of clandestine graves nationwide.

The now-inaccessible records showed that from Dec. 1, 2018, to April 30, 2023, a total of 2,863 sites were discovered. According to data collected by the Interior Ministry and cited by Infobae México, only Veracruz (668) reported more such graves than Tamaulipas (554) and Sinaloa (484).