Bodies Discovered In Mexican Truck Could Be Missing Police Officers

There may have been a major breakthrough in the case of five missing police officers from a small town in Mexico. Authorities discovered five dead bodies in an abandoned pickup truck that they believe were the officers who went missing a week ago, according to the Associated Press.

The officers went missing from the town of Tuzantla in the state of Michoacan last week. The truck containing the bodies was found about 35 miles to the northeast in the municipality of Zitacuaro.

State prosecutors said the bodies had bullet wounds in them, per the AP’s report. The truck they were found in was stolen last month.

The investigation is still ongoing, so it is not yet clear who caused the officers’ disappearances. Additionally, if the bodies did indeed belong to the officers, it is not yet known who killed them or why.

Mexico has dealt with widespread disappearances and murders over the past several years due to the drug war taking place in the country. They have been attributed to clashes between government agents and drug cartels.

Around 40,000 people have disappeared in connection to the drug war, according to a recent report from Al Jazeera. Some of the families of those who have gone missing have reportedly blamed the government for not doing more to find out what happened to them.

In late 2017, the New York Times profiled Mexicans who had taken the searches for their missing loved ones into their own hands. At least 250,000 people have been killed as part of the drug war, according to the Wall Street Journal.