42 human skulls, guns, grenades, others, discovered as police raid drug gang’s hideout

At least 42 human skulls have been found piled up as police aided a drug gang’s hideout in Mexico City, Mexico.

Mexican authorities said the skulls were discovered piled around what appeared to be an altar of an Afro-Caribbean religion.

Two methamphetamine labs, guns, grenades and about two-and-a-half tonnes of marijuana were also found during the raid carried out by hundreds of police last week.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said genetic profiles from the skulls would be compared to lists of missing persons.

It was not immediately clear if the skulls belong to gang victims or were stolen from graveyards, but it is understood that experts are running DNA tests to determine the identity and origin of the skulls.

Bones also sometimes emerge because of above-ground burial niches and the tradition of cleaning grave sites for reuse after a few decades.