Mass graves with 166 bodies found in eastern Mexico

MEXICO CITY: The bodies of 166 people have been found in the Mexican state of Veracruz, prosecutors said on Thursday, the latest in a string of grim discoveries made in the eastern region in recent years.

State attorney general Jorge Winckler told a news conference that investigators discovered the bodies in 32 graves in the central part of the state after an Aug. 8 tip from an unidentified person that they had been dumped there.

Veracruz has long been wracked by violent crime and is an important trafficking route for drug gangs moving narcotics north towards the US border. Winckler did not reveal the precise location of the graves.

Analysis of the remains indicated the bodies had probably not been there for more than two years, he said. In March 2017, Winckler announced the discovery of more than 250 skulls in unmarked graves in the state.