A total of 21 murder victims were discovered in the Tijuana River Channel in 2018, with 15 located in the last four months.

Areas of the concrete river channel are described as a narco-cemetery by local law enforcement authorities in the beleaguered border city.

The most recent discovery occurred on Monday morning at Vía Rápida Oriente in colonia Guadalupe Victoria–Mesa de Otay at approximately 9:00 am, according to local reports. An unknown decapitated male victim was discovered on a river bank and the head was located a few meters away in the water.

The bodies, for the most part, remain unidentified but are believed to be victims of the cartel war currently engulfing the city. Many show gunshot wounds or signs of torture with limbs bound. Some are burned. In one case, a victim was abandoned inside a shopping cart. Several victims exhibited varying stages of decomposition.

In another recent discovery, an unknown male was found on Saturday at approximately 11:50 am with blunt trauma injuries to the head. A few days prior in the same area, the body of a woman who was believed to be pregnant was located in the river.

Authorities believe that the river has become a popular dumping ground for homicide victims due to poor lighting and no surveillance cameras. The river also has overgrown weeds in some parts, which provide good cover for dumping bodies.

Breitbart News reports extensively on the cartel war and related violence. Recently, the city officially notched 4,100 murders in a two-year period and is fast approaching 2,400 homicide for 2018 alone, according to official statistics.

Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.)