MEXICO CITY (CN) - The 10 missing mine workers who were kidnapped from Sinaloa last month were likely confused for a rival criminal group, Mexico's Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Omar Garcia Harfuch said Tuesday.

Harfuch claimed that Los Chapitos may have mistaken the miners for members of their rival group, Los Mayos. The two rival splits of the Sinaloa Cartel have been engaged in a bloody territorial dispute since September 2024 that left almost 2,000 dead in the first year of fighting.

"With the first arrests made by the Army of four people allegedly responsible for the illegal deprivation of liberty, what they mentioned is that they were confused with members of an opposing group; those are the first statements," said Harfuch during Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's daily press conference.

On Monday, the Mexican Attorney General's Office reported that the bodies of five of the 10 miners were found and identified in a mass grave in El Verde, Sinaloa, in the municipality of Concordia.

"It is important to mention that the ministerial authority has maintained contact with relatives of the victims, whose bodies, in the cases in which they have already been identified, will be transferred to the states of Zacatecas in two cases, as well as to Chihuahua, Sonora and Guerrero," officials said.

David Mora, International Crisis Group's senior analyst for Mexico, said there could be some truth to Harfuch's statements that organized crime is responsible, but a simple case of mistaken identity is unlikely.

Mora, who conducted field research in Concordia days before the kidnapping, said that many families in the region have been forcibly displaced, and some are starting to return to the area.

"They were told by Los Mayos that Los Mayos had regained control over the area, that they had wrestled control from Los Chapitos and gave the people reassurance that they could come back," said Mora.

Mora said that it's possible that hitmen associated with Los Chapitos, in a revenge attack, could have seized the group of miners and then killed them.

"It could have been a last effort to fight over the area," he said.

Mora said the truth to Harfuch's statement probably ends there.

"Just saying they were confused, though, that it was a case of mistaken identity or an error strikes me as highly unlikely," said Mora.

Mora believes this is because violence in Sinaloa has been highly targeted and not random. The criminal groups have become more sophisticated and have been utilizing high-level drone technology.

On Jan. 28, two lawmakers from the Movimiento Ciudadano political party were shot in an armed attack and left in critical condition. Harfuch said Los Chapitos were most likely responsible for the attack and deployed 1,600 Armed Forces - including 90 Special Forces - to Sinaloa the day after.

"The stage of the conflict right now speaks more to sophisticated ways to inflict violence and not these random attacks that might lead to identity errors. The pattern of violence right now would contradict the hypothesis of confusion," said Mora.

The gold and silver mine run by the Canadian company Vizsla Silver was still under construction when the kidnapping occurred Jan. 23, and operations in Panuco are on hold.

"We are devastated by this outcome and the tragic loss of life. Our deepest condolences are with our colleagues' families, friends and co-workers, and the entire community of Concordia. Our focus remains on the safe recovery of those who remain missing and on supporting all affected families and our people during this incredibly difficult time," Michael Konnert, president and CEO of Vizsla, said in a statement Monday.

Last week, federal and state authorities arrested four people in Concordia for possible links to the kidnapping. 

According to a recent Mexico Evala report, Sinaloa had the second-highest lethal violence rate in the country between 2015 and 2025, with 131.1 out of every 100,000 people the victim of lethal violence.

Sinaloa also had the highest rate of disappearance or missing people during the same decade, with 29.9 out of every 100,000 people disappeared.

Source: Courthouse News Service