Note pinned to body of seventh victim reading ‘this is what happens to scoundrels’ suggests incident may be related to drug debt, authorities say

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Police in the Mexican city of Guadalajara are investigating after six people were found alive with their hands cut off and warning note pinned to the body of a seventh victim.

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“This is what happens to scoundrels,” read the note, which was signed “sincerely, the Anti-Rat Group”, according to local media reports.

Authorities in the western state of Jalisco believe that the mutilations were related to unpaid drug debts or a settling of scores within a criminal gang.

The victims – five men and one woman between the ages of 24 and 44 – had been kidnapped at various points in the Guadalajara area on Monday and abandoned in the municipality of Tlaquepaque.

“This was to teach a lesson and generate terror among those involved in these [criminal] activities,” Jalisco state prosecutor Eduardo Almaguer said.



Two suspects have been arrested in the case, while the victims were recovering from their injuries.