Two human heads were discovered near a bank on the outskirts of the Mexican town of Tepuche just hours apart. Police were called on Wednesday to Culiacan, Sinaloa, after a decapitated head was found located inside a black box by a branch of the Bienestar bank.

As the probe into the incident was ongoing, detectives found a second head on Thursday morning, only a few metres away from the first chilling discovery. The heads have been taken away for forensic examinations. One of the victims is thought to be a 23-year-old who had gone missing, local media reports. The other victim is also believed to be from the town.

Violence has surged across Mexico following the killing last month of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, following a military operation.

El Mencho, long regarded as Mexico’s most powerful cartel boss and one of the United States’ most wanted narco fugitives, represented the highest‑profile blow to organised crime since the capture of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán a decade ago.

Mexico’s defence secretary, Ricardo Treviño, said the army and national guard carried out the operation in southern Jalisco with support from the air force and special forces, and that intelligence tracing one of El Mencho’s romantic partners led them to his hideout.

Omar García Harfuch, secretary for security in Claudia Sheinbaum’s Mexican government, says the country will have a “zero impunity” for drug traffickers.

This comes as Donald Trump has threatened higher taxes if the country does not make steps to stop the supply of drugs over the border into the US.

Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, said Mexico had sent “a strong message” to the Trump administration that they are “fighting aggressively and effectively” against the most powerful cartels.

He added of the operation against El Mencho, that “the majority of the information came from the Mexican armed forces and all credit goes to Mexico.”