Mexican authorities have apprehended two former police officers and a cartel recruiter linked to a suspected drug cartel torture and training facility where human remains were uncovered earlier this month.
The Izaguirre ranch, situated in the western state of Jalisco, is believed to have been used by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a hideout, training ground, and site for cremating bodies.
Gabriel J., a former municipal police officer from Tala, was detained under a warrant for allegedly kidnapping a man and delivering him to the cartel at the Izaguirre ranch, according to a statement from the Jalisco Attorney General’s Office. His colleague, José Antonio Solís, was taken into custody on Monday. These arrests follow the detention of another Tala officer, Emmanuel N., in October 2024, who remains incarcerated.
Authorities claim Gabriel J. and José S. abducted the victim while he was riding his motorcycle, pretending to conduct a routine check. They are accused of handing him over to cartel members, who transported him to the facility.
The victim testified that during 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 clash between police and cartel members at the ranch in September 2024. That incident led to ten arrests and the discovery of a body wrapped in plastic.
On Monday, police also arrested José Gregorio N., known as “El Lastra” or “Comandante Lastra,” who is alleged to have supervised the recruitment and training of new cartel members at the site, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch announced at a news conference. Authorities believe he managed recruitment and training from May 2024 through 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 that time, no human remains or personal items were discovered, and authorities classified it solely as a cartel training facility.
However, in March, a group of relatives searching for missing persons, known as the Warrior Searchers of Jalisco, returned to the site after receiving an anonymous tip. They found more than 200 pairs of shoes, burned human remains, charred bones, and incinerators used to dispose of victims.
Authorities said the remains went undetected in the initial raid because they were burned, buried, and hidden under a layer of earth and a brick slab.
Despite the discovery of human remains and incinerators, Security Minister García Harfuch stated there is still no definitive evidence that the ranch operated as an “extermination camp” for the cartel.
Jalisco has the highest number of missing persons in Mexico, with over 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.