MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Authorities identified the bodies of six teenage boys at a ranch in central Mexico along with one survivor, state prosecutors said on Wednesday, in a case that may be linked to an armed kidnapping possibly connected to violent criminal gangs.
A government source who asked not to be named confirmed that the bodies correspond to the case of six missing boys kidnapped earlier this month.
State prosecutors in Zacatecas state only confirmed that the young men were found at a ranch in the city of Villanueva, along with the teenager who was found alive, and that officials were still working on identifying them.
The rescued boy is in stable condition receiving care at a hospital in the state’s capital, also known as Zacatecas, and is under police protection, the prosecutor’s office added.
Local media had reported that at least seven young men ranging between the ages of 14 and 18 years old were taken from their homes and kidnapped by armed civilians in Villanueva on Sept. 24.
Zacatecas is among Mexico’s most violent states where rival criminal gangs regularly clash over lucrative smuggling routes.
During the first eight months of this year, more than 500 people were murdered in the state, according to government data.
(Reporting by Diego Ore and Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Bill Berkrot)