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 The BBC's Peter Greste reports"The authorities are looking at least two sites"  real 28k |
'Mass graves' discovered in Mexico
The cartel is suspected of smuggling tons of cocaine across borders |
By Mexico correspondent Peter Greste
The Mexican army and government agents backed by a team from the American FBI have begun examining two suspected mass graves thought to contain the bodies of Mexican and US citizens killed by drug smugglers.
For years the authorities on both sides of the border have been investigating the Juarez drug cartel, one of Mexico's most ruthless drug smuggling organisations based in the northern city of Juarez.
Now, according to a report by the American CBS television network, the authorities have found the graves containing the bodies of as many as 100 people murdered by the cartel, or by Mexican police working for the organisation.
Disappeared
According to the network the graves are in two ranches just south of the border. In a statement, the Mexican attorney-general's office confirmed the report.
The investigation is aimed at clearing up a series of drug-related murders and disappearances of US and Mexican citizens, apparently by members of the so-called Juarez cartel, the statement said.
Although the attorney-general's office did not say how many people it believed to be buried there, it has set up free telephone hot-lines to take calls from people who think a friend or a relative may be among the victims.
Remains
Investigators from both sides of the border have sealed off the site and are expected to start exhuming bodies on Tuesday morning.
The remains will be sent over the border to El Paso for DNA testing to confirm their identities.
The Juarez drug cartel is believed responsible for shipping tons of Colombian cocaine through Mexico to north American markets.
It is also believed to be behind hundreds of disappearances and murders in the region, which human rights groups say sees more drug-related deaths than anywhere else in the world.
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15 Feb 99 | Americas |
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US and Mexico: A porous frontier |
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16 Feb 99 | Americas |
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Mexico drug pact for Clinton |
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30 Oct 99 | Americas |
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Cocaine haul turns to flour |
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