In Mexico, seven call centre workers mysteriously disappeared all at once. Investigators have since found 45 suitcases believed to contain their bodies.

According to Mexican media outlets, including El Universal토토사이트, police in the state of Jalisco recovered 45 bags containing human bodies in the Mirador del Bosque valley outside Guadalajara on the 2nd (local time). Some of them reportedly matched the description of a call centre worker who recently went missing.

“The discovery of the body bags was the result of a series of tips during the search for the whereabouts of seven missing persons,” the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office said in a press release, “and we are continuing to locate the missing persons in addition to conducting genetic forensics on the bodies.” It did not disclose how many bodies were found in total.

Searchers collect a bag containing a body. /AFP Yonhap

Earlier, Jalisco state police received a series of missing persons reports for seven men and women in their 20s and 30s between the 20th and 22nd of last month. Initially, each was treated as a separate case, but it turned into a mass disappearance when it was confirmed that they were all employees of a call centre in Zapopan.

Prosecutors and police have been conducting an intensive search operation with more than 100 personnel since the 26th of last month. They will continue to work together to identify suspects and investigate the circumstances of the crime.

Meanwhile, there is local speculation that drug cartels may be involved in the case. The notorious national gang Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and its offshoot Nueva Plaza are based in the Jalisco capital, Guadalajara. In fact, disappearances involving turf battles between drug cartels are common in the area, and earlier this year, 31 bodies were found in two secret mass graves.