Mexican police announced the discovery of five mass graves near a shooting range in the municipality of Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon. According to Milenio, the security forces arrested one man near the scene, who was hiding behind a wall and carrying a hand radio.
Nuevo Leon is currently seeing a fierce battle between the Zetas and their rivals, known as the New Federation, a coalition of elements from the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartels. So far this year, the state has registered close to 400 murders related to organized crime, reports Milenio, nearly half of the total number of drug-related homicides (820) registered in 2010.
Tamaulipas is still the state where the highest number of bodies, buried in improvised pits, have been found this year. Excelsior reports that since 2010, federal authorities have found at least 380 bodies in different mass graves across the country. Graves have also been discovered in more southern states like Acapulco, Guerrero and Morelos. Border states like Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon have attracted more attention, however, after the discovery of pits containing a higher number of bodies.