A second mass grave was discovered in a remote indigenous region of Panama where mass murders attributed to religious sects were committed this year, the Panama prosecutor's office announced on Monday (September 14th).
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Investigators found "
a clandestine grave (...) near the Chucara River in the district (ethnicity) Ngäbe Bugle
", about 350 km west of the capital, and undertook "
to exhume the bones,
”said the prosecution on his Twitter account.
At this stage of the investigation, it has not been possible to determine "
neither the sex nor the number of people
" buried, Azael Tugri, representative of the prosecution in the Ngäbe Buglé district, told the press.
The mass grave was a 10-hour walk away, in a mountainous area that is difficult to access, he said.
"
Rape and ill-treatment of minors
"
According to a source close to the file consulted by AFP, "
the discovery follows the investigation
" of a sect whose alleged leader was arrested Wednesday after a 24-day hunt by the police on the indigenous territory.
A previous operation on August 15 freed three children aged three months, 10 years and 15 years, who had been abducted by the sect.
Three other children are still missing.
Half a dozen cult members have been charged with "
rape and ill-treatment of minors
."
If the bones turn out to be those of missing children, it would be the second case of mass murder committed by a sect in Panama since the beginning of the year.
A first mass grave containing the bodies of six children and a pregnant woman, killed during a ritual, was discovered in January, also on the territory of the Ngäbe Buglé ethnic group.
