Five childhood friends and students aged between 19 and 22, have been murdered by a drug cartel after being lured to meet gang members under the pretense of a job offer and then ordered to join their ranks.

According to El Pais, the victims were identified by their relatives as Roberto Olmeda, Diego Lara, Uriel Galvan, Jaime Martinez and Dante Cedillo.

They were seen bound by tape, kneeling on the ground, and surrounded by gang members, with one of them seen bludgeoning & apparently decapitating his friend.

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Witnesses told journalist Hector De Mauleon that 10 armed men seized them from their car in San Miguel and forced them into a white pickup and a van with blacked-out windows.

It is reported that the victims who were beaten, stabbed and beheaded in a horrifically graphic video, sought employment as private security, met a contact in town and were not seen again until the video surfaced.