Authorities in Colima on Monday found a vehicle containing the dismembered remains of seven bodies believed to be those of a group of officers who disappeared in neighboring Jalisco last week.
Ten Colima state police officers were ambushed and kidnapped in Jalisco on Thursday after escorting a group of mining executives to the municipality of La Huerta.
The bodies were found in a white Chrysler Pacifica near a soccer field in the community of Cedros, north of Manzanillo, after police received a 911 call about an abandoned vehicle with a strong odor coming from it.
Colima authorities released a statement on Saturday confirming the kidnapping and claiming that “the officers … had the proper authorization to provide legal protection in the state [of Jalisco] and to carry their weapons.”
However, Jalisco Public Security Minister Juan Bosco Agustín Pacheco told a press conference that “I want to clarify that at no time did [the government of Colima] try to collaborate with us in the sense that they would notify us of the entry of the Colima police forces into the state, nor via an extraofficial phone call or other means of communication.”
For their part, neither the Colima Attorney General’s Office nor the state Public Security Ministry has issued an official statement to clarify or deny that the bodies found on Monday belonged to the missing police officers. Two other civilians were also reported missing in the region last week.
Source: Excélsior (sp)
CORRECTION: The earlier version of this story identified Manzanillo as the capital of the state of Colima. In fact, the city of Colima is the state capital.
