Eight rescued from alleged CJNG recruitment site in Jalisco

Mexican authorities say eight people allegedly forcibly recruited by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel were rescued from a clandestine clinic on a farm in Tecalitlan, Jalisco.

State prosecutor Salvador Gonzalez said the site sheltered people recruited by organised crime who had been injured while carrying out activities for the cartel. He said they had been deprived of their freedom. Two of those rescued were on crutches.

Authorities arrested six suspected guards, aged between 21 and 48, and reported seizing illegal drugs, weapons and ammunition. The supplied material does not specify the drugs or establish the allegations through court findings.

Investigators found the site while searching for a 20-year-old man who disappeared after travelling to a farm for what he believed was a job offer. Authorities have not confirmed a link between his disappearance and the rescued group.

The case echoes the 2025 discovery of a suspected CJNG training camp at a ranch in Teuchitlan, also in Jalisco. Al Jazeera reported that Mexico’s government recently said it had disabled more than 1,700 social-media profiles linked to fake job offers allegedly used to lure young people into crime.