Cancun police find 12 decomposing inside caverns

[link to www.msnbc.msn.com]

CANCUN, Mexico - Police in Cancun found 12 decomposing bodies in four caverns and were searching for more cadavers in violence blamed on drug gangs in the popular resort city, officials said Friday.

Earlier this month, police discovered six other bodies, three of them cut open and their hearts removed, in a similar cavern near the Mexican resort. Three of the bodies had the letter "Z" carved on their abdomens — a possible reference to the Zeta drug gang

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Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located, is a transshipment point for cocaine being smuggled from Colombia to the United States.


In 2009, prosecutors arrested Cancun's police chief, Francisco Velasco, to investigate whether he protected the Zetas drug gang. A former governor of the state was sentenced to 36 years for money laundering and helping a cartel smuggle narcotics.