Drug cartels and kidnapping gangs often use such clandestine body dumping grounds to get rid of the corpses of their victims or rivals.

Authorities have found 12 skeletons buried in clandestine graves in Mexico's northern Chihuahua state near the U.S. border, officials say.

At least a dozen bodies were found in several unmarked graves last week near Ciudad Juarez’s Ascension area, according to a press release by Chihuahua State Officials. The press release says agents discovered 11 unmarked graves where 12 skeletons were exhumed.

Investigators in Mexico announced Thursday they have found 12 bodies in clandestine burial sites in the northern border state of Chihuahua.