MORE than 20 officials and prison guards have been arrested in Mexico over the gruesome discovery in prison garbage of a dead baby removed from its grave, authorities said today.

Investigators are seeking to establish how the body was moved to the prison, as well as the motives behind the unusual case, which has triggered shock and condemnation.

Born with congenital problems, the three-month-old baby died of a generalised infection on January 6 and was buried in Mexico City, prosecutors said.

Days later, its body was found by an inmate looking for recyclable material in a garbage container in a prison in the state of Puebla around 130km away.

“It’s an atypical case and there’s no record of one with similar characteristics,” Ulises Lara, spokesman for the Mexico City prosecutor’s office, told the press.

Puebla Governor Miguel Barbosa said 21 people had been arrested so far, after warrants were issued for 23 suspects including supervisors and guards at the prison.

He branded those responsible “demonic” and also fired his security and penitentiary chiefs.

Mexican prisons are rife with crime and violence due to the presence of members of rival criminal gangs.

Today, clashes between inmates at a prison in the western state of Colima left eight people dead and seven injured, authorities said. – AFP, January 26, 2022.