(NewsNation) — As many as 48 bags filled with what are believed to be human remains have been discovered in what officials are referring to as a clandestine gravesite near Guadalajara, home to one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal cartels, authorities announced Thursday.
The bags were located and recovered in the capital region of Jalisco state, where the Jalisco New Generation cartel originates. Multiple media outlets in the United States and Mexico reported the discovery of the suspected human remains in an area of Mexico where thousands of people have been reported missing.
The Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office announced at a news conference Thursday that investigators are working to determine how many victims whose remains were found in the bags, CBS News reported. Blanca Trujillo, deputy state prosecutor for missing persons, told reporters that the search was ongoing for additional remains.
“We need to make progress on the forensic issue so that we can tell you how many victims this number of bags represents,” Trijillo said.
Jalisco State data indicates that nearly 16,000 people have been reported missing from the region, according to Tribuna de Mexico. The report indicated that the most recent discovery of the suspected human remains increases the number of bags that have been found in the area. In July, the newspaper reported 29 bags had been located.
Officials said at the time that remains would need to be constructed before victims could be identified. Previous bags that have been located at the site have included bone fragments and human tissue, which are being analyzed by the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences.
Investigators have linked the reports of missing persons to criminal cartels that operate in that part of Mexico. Across Mexico, more than 127,000 people have gone missing. CBS News reported that the largest mass grave was discovered in 2017, when 250 skulls were located in what authorities believed to be a cartel burial site near the city of Veracruz.
Earlier this year, 56 bodies were found in unmarked graves near the U.S.-Mexico border before the remains of 34 other people were found in a residential area in June, officials said.