Mexican authorities have arrested two former police officers and a cartel recruiter in connection with an alleged drug cartel torture and training site where human remains were discovered earlier this month.Â
The Izaguirre ranch, located in the western state of Jalisco, was allegedly operated by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a safehouse, training center, and cremation site for human bodies.
Gabriel J. former municipal police officer from Tala, was arrested on a warrant for allegedly kidnapping and delivering a man to the cartel at the Izaguirre ranch, Jalisco’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. His colleague, JosĂ© Antonio SolĂs, was arrested on Monday. Their arrests follow the detention of a third Tala officer, Emmanuel N., in October 2024. Emmanuel N. remains in prison.
Authorities say Gabriel J. and José S. abducted the victim under the guise of conducting a routine check while he was riding his motorcycle. They allegedly handed him over to cartel members, who transported him to the site.
The victim testified that at the time of the kidnapping, he heard the two officers saying they would "hand him over to the people." He was later rescued along with another captive after an armed confrontation between police and cartel members at the ranch in September 2024. Back then, ten people were arrested, and police discovered a body wrapped in plastic.
On Monday, police also arrested JosĂ© Gregorio N., alias “El Lastra” or “Comandante Lastra,” who allegedly oversaw the recruitment and training of new cartel members at the ranch, Security Minister Omar GarcĂa Harfuch said at a news conference. Authorities believe he was responsible for recruitment and training from May 2024 to early March 2025.
The ranch, located in Teuchitlán, about 60 kilometers west of Guadalajara, was initially raided by Mexican National Guard troops in September. At the time, no human remains or belongings were found, and authorities classified it solely as a cartel training site.
However, in March, a collective of relatives searching for missing persons, known as the Warrior Searchers of Jalisco, returned to the site based on an anonymous tip. They uncovered more than 200 pairs of shoes, burned human remains, charred bones, and incinerators used to dispose of victims.
Authorities said the remains were not detected in the initial raid because they were burned, buried, and concealed beneath a layer of earth and a brick slab.
Despite the discovery of human remains and incinerators, Security Minister GarcĂa Harfuch said there is still no conclusive evidence that the ranch functioned as an “extermination camp” for the cartel.
Jalisco has the highest number of missing persons in Mexico, with more than 15,000 people listed as disappeared. As of March 24, 2025, the Mexican government’s National Registry of the Disappeared reported 125,315 missing persons nationwide.
