The decapitated bodies of five men were discovered on a road in central Mexico, in a region controlled by the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Police were alerted to the scene near the town of Ojuelos, in Jalisco state, on Sunday morning, after drivers reported seeing plastic bags containing human remains, the BBC reported. 

“A report was received indicating that, on the asphalt strip of the road (…) there were several bags that looked like human silhouettes,” the state prosecutor’s office said. Officials said forensic teams are working to identify the victims.

The gruesome nature of the murders and the public disposal of the bodies strongly suggest cartel involvement. National Guard troops also arrived at the scene, where they found the remains wrapped in black plastic bags, according to a statement from the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office.

The victims’ ages have not yet been determined, and an investigation is underway, the statement added. 

In Jalisco, official statistics show that 1,415 people were murdered between January and September this year.

More than 30,000 people are killed annually in Mexico, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Last week, the mayor of a Mexican city plagued by drug violence was assassinated just days after taking office.

Alejandro Arcos was murdered in Chilpancingo, a city of about 280,000 people in the southwestern state of Guerrero.

President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office last week, has ruled out a return to the previous administration’s war on drugs.

She stated that her security strategy would focus on gathering intelligence on cartels and addressing the root causes of violence- a policy known as “hugs not bullets,” introduced by her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

However, the opposition is pushing for a tougher stance against the cartels.

Since the government began deploying the Mexican military against the drug cartels in 2006, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and tens of thousands more have gone missing.