EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Mexican police continue finding bodies near an address where a “narco banner” hung over an overpass in north Juarez earlier this month alleged held a mass grave.
The banner accused a recently jailed murder suspect and drug gang leader going by the moniker of “Pitufo” (Smurf) of burying 30 bodies at a home on Calle Cafeto.
On Wednesday, the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office confirmed police dug out the bodies of two men from a home two blocks away from a residence where a man and a woman were found in a clandestine grave last Thursday.
This was the fourth home in north Juarez in one week to be searched by police looking for clandestine graves. Chihuahua state authorities say they have found five bodies so far.
Police photos show the grave was in the backyard of the home at the corner of Calle Argon and Gladiolas, half hidden behind a doghouse, an old washing machine and a disassembled air conditioner unit. Investigators located the bodies using a dog trained to sniff out cadavers.
Deputy Attorney General Carlos Manuel Salas said the investigation remains open and did not rule out additional searches on other homes.
“We have found a total of five cadavers in the past few days, and we have information of other places where there could be more,” Salas said. “We will keep looking. It is important to find those who are missing, and to ease the suffering of their families.”
Juarez for the past four years has been a battleground between the Sinaloa cartel and La Linea for control of drug routes to the United States, and also a major border city where several smaller gangs are disputing street-level drug sales.
ProVideo in Juarez, Mexico, contributed to this report.
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