Cancun police find 12 decomposing inside caverns

Cancun: Police in Cancun found 12 decomposing bodies in four caverns and were searching for more cadavers in violence blamed on drug gangs in the popular resort city, officials said on Friday.

Earlier this month, police discovered six other bodies, three of them cut open and their hearts removed, in a similar cavern near the Mexican resort.

Three of the bodies had the letter "Z" carved on their abdomens - a possible reference to the Zeta drug gang.

Police say detained gunmen have led them to all the clandestine graves - dried up sinkhole caves, known as cenotes.

Quintana Roo state Attorney General Francisco Alor said on Friday that nine alleged hit men detained three days earlier led police to the 12 bodies.

Alor said three of the sinkholes are in an area covered with scrub vegetation near a residential area and the fourth on the outskirts of Cancun along a highway leading to Merida. None of the bodies have been identified.

Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located, is a transshipment point for cocaine being smuggled from Colombia to the United States.