Fledgling cartel numbers reach more than 30k as young people in poverty are lured into a life of crime and murder by the promise of riches

THE Jalisco New Generation might be relative newcomers but they are not to be found lacking when it comes to the level of violence associated with the more established drugs cartels.

- BY CRAIG MCDONALD

Horror was sparked, even among battle hardened law enforcement agencies, when two teenage Jalisco recruits told after being arrested how they were forced to torture and then eat their victims.

The youths aged 16 and 17, arrested in 2017, gave a terrifying account of the group's methods, which included keeping a victim's corpse in a fridge and cutting off and eating pieces of the flesh.

The strategy, it's claimed, is designed to produce highly dangerous and coldblooded criminal enforcers who will stop at nothing to further the aims of their drug trafficking masters.

The recruits were said to have given the account "without any sign of remorse".

Known as the CJNG, or Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, this Mexico-based young team was only founded in 2009 but membership is already believed to total in excess of 30,000 with more being recruited every week.

Signalling its arrival, the CJNG dumped the corpses of three men, believed to be members of the rival Zeta syndicate, in a truck abandoned in the popular tourist resort of Cancun.

Announcing itself as the "Mata Zetas", or Zeta killers, the CJNG said its aims were to fight its rivals in all parts of the country claiming it was for "a cleaner Mexico".

Despite the barbaric methods, the CJNG sees itself as something of a modern-thinking cartel, and is known for its use of drones, involvement in cybercrime, and forays into public relations campaigns to promote its aims and denounce rivals.