Police are investigating after an upper body part believed to be a severed head was found along the side of a river. The remains have not yet been identified
An investigation is underway after an ‘upper body part’ was discovered along the banks of a river.
Police are working to identify the remains after what is believed to be a severed head was found near the Rivière des Prairies in Montreal on Sunday afternoon, according to Global.
While police would not confirm that the body part is a severed head, sources told the publication that the remains found were the upper body “from above the shoulders.”
The remains are believed to belong to a man, and investigators are working to identify him, according to police. The cause of death is still under investigation, and authorities have not ruled out suicide.
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Just last month six severed heads were found on a busy city street alongside a road in Mexico that is normally peaceful.
The discovery was made by local authorities early on a Tuesday morning in an area that is usually peaceful and not associated with cartel violence.
The route where the severed heads were found links the central states of Puebla and Tlaxcala. Police have not yet provided a motive behind the killings, nor have they revealed any information regarding which criminal groups operating in Mexico could have been behind the horrific act.
A blanket was reportedly left at the gruesome crime scene with a message that issued a warning to rival gangs, as per local media. It was allegedly signed by a group called “La Barredora” which translates to “the sweeper”.
Tlaxcala and Puebla, located just over 100 kilometers (62 miles) away from Mexico City, are generally not prone to this kind of extreme cartel violence — as seen in other parts of the country — with both the central states known to be largely peaceful.
In fact, Tlaxcala accounts for only 0.5 per cent of the nationally recorded intentional homicides figure of 14,769 between January and July, while Puebla makes up 3.4 per cent. However, authorities have acknowledged the states tend to face problems such as the movement of criminal groups dedicated to human and drug trafficking, as well as fuel theft, due to their central geographical location.
Mexico has seen a massive surge in violence between cartels in recent years — as hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and tens of thousands have gone missing — ever since the government of the country first began using the Mexican military against gangs back in 2006.
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