MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Police found more than 40 skulls, dozens of bones and an embryo stored in a glass jar near an altar in a den where drug suspects were hiding in Mexico City during a raid a few days ago, authorities said on Saturday.
Four skulls were fixed at the altar in the central Tebito neighborhood of Mexico City, where police arrested 31 people on Tuesday on suspicion of involvement in drug cartel activities, the city government said in a statement. A judge ordered the release of 27 suspects.
A picture published by the Mexico City Public Prosecutor's Office shows skulls hanging around the altar with a cross with a wooden mask on the background.
Pictures of the room, published by local media, showed a wall to the right of the altar with symbols filled with symbols including a pyramid with a hand above it, celestial bodies, a goat's head and a hexagonal star between its horns.
A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office said authorities were still investigating the source of the skulls, noting that at least 42 authorities had found them.
Investigators also found knives, 40 jawbones, the fetus in the glass jar and 30 bones from an arm or leg at the site, but it was not clear if the embryo was human, the spokeswoman said.
The Tepito area, north of the historic center of the Mexican capital, has long been known as a bastion of illegal business activities. The release of most of the suspects in Tebito was seen by some as a setback for the government, which has struggled to control gang violence that is a chronic problem.