Mexican authorities rescue eight people forcibly recruited by CJNG cartel in Jalisco

Mexican law enforcement has said it rescued eight people who had been forcibly recruited by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the country’s most powerful and violent drug trafficking organisations.

The eight people were found at a clandestine clinic on a farm in the municipality of Tecalitlan, in the western state of Jalisco, roughly 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Guadalajara, the AFP news agency reported.

Images released by state prosecutors showed dimly lit rooms with mattresses on the floor and heavily stained walls. One photo showed a cap bearing an image of Jesus Malverde, a folk figure widely revered by drug traffickers as an unofficial patron saint.

Jalisco state prosecutor Salvador Gonzalez said the property “operated as a place to shelter people recruited by organised crime who, for one reason or another, ended up injured in connection with the activities they were made to carry out and needed to recover”.

He added the victims “had been deprived of their freedom”. Two of those rescued were on crutches. Authorities said they also seized illegal drugs and narcotics, as well as weapons and ammunition. Six suspected guards, aged 21 to 48, were also arrested.

Investigators found the site while searching for a 20-year-old man who had gone missing in late July after leaving his home in Tlaquepaque, near Guadalajara, in a taxi to answer what he believed was a job offer at a farm.

The case echoes the 2025 discovery of a suspected CJNG training camp at a ranch in Teuchitlan, also in Jalisco, where a civilian search collective found clothing, luggage and human remains, leading to more than 40 arrests.

An estimated 134,000 people are believed to be missing across Mexico, with Jalisco having one of the country’s highest rates of missing people.

Mexico’s government said last week it had disabled more than 1,700 social media profiles spreading fake job offers to lure young people into crime.