A Mexican rapper has confessed to dissolving the bodies of three murdered film students in acid on the orders of a notorious drug cartel.
Christian Palma Gutiérrez, better known as QBA, told prosecutors he disposed of the remains of Javier Salomón Aceves Gastélum, 23 and 20-year-olds Marco Garcia Francisco Avalos and Jesús Daniel Díaz, last month.
The trio were kidnapped, tortured and killed in the state of Jalisco by cartel members dressed as policemen after they were mistaken for rival gangsters.
Christian Palma Gutiérrez, better known as rapper QBA, has confessed to dissolving the bodies of three Mexican students in acid on the orders of the Jalisco New Generation cartel
Gutiérrez told prosecutors that he had participated in three other murders and had dissolved bodies in acid before. He claimed he was paid $160 per week by the cartel for his services
Gutiérrez told Mexican prosecutors that he disposed of the bodies on orders from the Jalisco New Generation cartel, and it was not the first time he had disposed of remains in this way.
He said he was paid 3,000 pesos ($160) per week by the cartel for his services.
‘He has participated in three other previous murders,’ chief investigator Lizette Torres told AFP news agency.
So far, QBA and one other suspect have been arrested in connection with the killings. Police are still searching for five other suspects.
The last time the students were seen alive was after their car broke down.
They were seen being forced into another car by two armed men dressed as police officers in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, in the western state of Jalisco.
Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences staff work at a house connected to their disappearance
Javier Salomón Aceves Gastélum, 25, Jesús Daniel Díaz, 20, and Marco Garcia Francisco Avalos, 20, are pictured during a press conference Monday after investigators said they were confused for rivals of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel
Another official said that investigators are analyzing more human remains found on the premises of the building where the young men were dissolved.
‘There are no words to comprehend the magnitude of this madness,’ Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro, a Guadalajara native, tweeted early Tuesday.
‘Three students are killed and dissolved in acid. The ‘why’ is unthinkable, the ‘how’ is terrifying.’
On Monday night, families of the deceased protested to reject the official version about the disappearance of their loved ones outside of the Jalisco state Governor’s residence in Guadalajara
Prosecutors said the youths, who were students at University of Audiovisual Media, were confused with members of a another gang by gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which has become the most powerful in Mexico, according to U.S. authorities.
Criminal groups in Mexico are known for kidnapping, torturing, dismembering and even dissolving their victims in acid and many of the remains are dumped in clandestine graves.
In 2014, 43 student teachers disappeared in the southern state of Guerrero and the government said they were kidnapped by police who handed them over to a criminal group that killed them and burned their bodies.
International observers objected to the government’s investigation and the case shook the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has seen his popularity decline sharply amid corruption allegations and a spike in violence.
More than 25,000 people were murdered last year in Mexico. Homicides hit their highest level in records going back 20 years.
Relatives and friends of three missing students from the University of Audiovisual Media, place candles during a demonstration to reject the official version about the disappearance of their loved ones outside of the Jalisco state Governor’s residence in Guadalajara
Oscar winning director Guillermo del Toro, a Guadalajara native, tweeted his anger at the senseless and brutal slayings