Seven bodies, including one that was decapitated, were found Thursday west of Sasabe, Sonora, close to the U.S. border.
All of them are males and had signs of torture, Rafael Pineda, a Sonora reporter and blogger, said, citing state police authorities.Β
Rancho La Sierrita, where the bodies were found, is about eight miles southwest of San Miguel in the Tohono O'odham reservation.
The ranch is about 160 yards from the U.S. border and is known as a staging area for border crossers. The federal police rescued 40 people there from Mexico and Central America last year. It has been used to smuggle drugs and migrants since 2006. During the summer about 400 border crossers, paying about $7,000 each, would leave the place daily to continue their journey north, federal officials said then.Β
During the June 2014 raid, four people were arrested, including a man who was allegedly in charge of managing the ranch and collecting payments from the smugglers.
And in 2011, Mexican authorities rescued another 132 migrants from La Sierrita, which is in the municipality of Altar. The majority were from Mexico but there were some from Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, according to newspaper archives.Β
The story is developing.
