Cartel Members Tortured and Executed Seven Near Arizona Border

Drug cartel members tortured and executed seven men whose bodies were found near the Sonora/Arizona Border. One of the men had been decapitated. One of the victims has since been identified as a drug trafficker who had previously been arrested in the United States.

The bodies of the seven men were found in a creek at a Mexican ranch not far from Sasabe, Sonora, right on the border with Arizona, Mexico’s  El Diario Del Yaqui reported.

The men had all been shot with high caliber rifles and had been left behind for at least five days. Authorities have since identified one of the victims as 38-year-old Cipriano Obeso Berrelleza from the town of Caborca.

Obeso Berrelleza had been arrested three times in the United States in connection with drug trafficking activity. His relatives had reported him missing on October 21, several days after they had last heard from him on October 17, El Diario Del Yaqui reported.

The bodies were found in Rancho La Sierrita a Mexican ranch about eight miles southwest of San Miguel in the Tohono O’odham reservation, the Arizona Daily Star reported. The ranch is located about 160 yards from the border and is considered a staging area for human smugglers and drug traffickers.

Mexican authorities have not specified which drug cartel is suspected of having been behind the murders. Breitbart Texas has been investigating the areas in Arizona which are generally controlled by drug traffickers affiliated with the Sinaloa Federation, however on the Mexican side there have been in fact a few incursions by their rivals as well.

The area has also seen number of heavily armed rip crews that troll the area searching for cartel shipments that they rob at gunpoint. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, Armed rip crews operating in the United States side of the border is what led to the shootout were U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered.

It remains unclear if the murder victims were killed in connection with a drug dispute, if they had been part of a drug rip crew, or may have been members of a rival criminal organization.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.