Mexican drug cartels are using septic tanks to hide the bodies of kidnapped and murdered victims, according to the Mexican news outlet Proceso.

The report includes testimony from a survivor who escaped an attack in October 2024 by cartel gunmen near Tacuichamona, a small community less than 40 miles southeast of Culiacán, Sinaloa.

According to the report, the survivor told Sabuesos Guerreras, a group that assists families of the disappeared, that he and four others were ambushed while traveling to Mazatlán. The attackers took them to an abandoned wastewater treatment plant, stripped them, and shot at them. 

He managed to escape by hiding inside a septic tank for 24 hours.

According to María Isabel Cruz Bernal, who leads Sabuesos Guerreras, on May 16, volunteers recovered three bodies from the tanks. Some showed signs of torture. 

Torn clothing, personal ID cards, and two burned-out vehicles were also discovered at the site. Additionally, human bones, including ribs and a phalanx, were recovered from nearby sewage.

“As soon as we opened the first grave, a body floated up, then another, and another,” Cruz Bernal told Proceso. 

Cruz Bernal said her group informed the Sinaloa state prosecutor’s office about the discovery, but officials said that the site had already been investigated.

Meanwhile, in a related case, activists in Colima state uncovered a 40-hectare ranch they described as a “death camp” linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Bone fragments, burned bodies, and chemical traces were found on the property. 

This discovery in Colima follows similar findings in Jalisco, where authorities uncovered mass graves and clandestine crematorium connected to the CJNG.

As of May 2025, the crisis of enforced disappearances in Mexico has worsened, with more than 125,000 people officially reported missing. The state of Jalisco continues to have the highest number of cases, with over 15,000 disappearances recorded.