Culiacan (Mexico), Apr 22 (IANS/EFE): The bodies of six men were found inside an SUV near the industrial zone in Ahome, a city in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, police said.

The grisly discovery was made Saturday by police.

The vehicle was taken in an armed robbery April 8 in the town of Juan Jose Rios, officials said.

Army troops cordoned off the area while crime scene investigators from the prosecutor's office gathered evidence.

The SUV was towed to a funeral home with the bodies still inside so they could be examined by specialists, officials said.

Sinaloa Attorney General Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez went to the funeral home to oversee the investigation.

The victims were stripped to the waist and wore only pants and sandals, police said.

"It is believed that the victims are farmworkers who were reported missing on Friday night after drinking at an agricultural camp," a police spokesman said.

The motive for the massacre is not known, but Sinaloa has been plagued by drug-related violence for years.

Sinaloa is home to the powerful drug cartel led by Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman.