Suspected drug gangs dismember Mexico prison warden

A policeman stands guard next to a black plastic bag and a message at a crime scene in Cuernavaca May 29, 2010.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The body of a prison warden kidnapped by gunmen earlier on Saturday was found dismembered and scattered in several locations in a small state adjacent to the Mexican capital, Mexican media reported.

The gruesome remains were found in Morelos state as police in bordering Guerrero state discovered at least 20 bodies dumped in a ravine, according to a local newspaper.

Officials will not know the exact number of corpses that were found for three days, El Universal reported, citing Guerrero state spokesman Manuel Nava.

Suspected drug gang hitmen grabbed prison warden Luis Navarro as he reported for work on Saturday morning. Parts of his body were later found in gift bags at four locations near police stations in Morelos state, Mexican media said.

At least two of the packages contained messages threatening police and other public officials, they said.

A spokesman for the state public security office confirmed Navarro's kidnapping but declined to say whether it was his dismembered body that was found.

Morelos state and Cuernavaca, its capital which is a popular weekend getaway near Mexico City, have witnessed a surge in drug-related violence since security forces killed Arturo Beltran Leyva, the leader of an eponymous regional drug cartel, in December.

Beltran Leyva's death has triggered a brutal power struggle as factions in the gang battle for control of its territory.

The half-naked bodies of two men were found hanged from a major bridge in the city in April in one of the most shocking recent crimes in the once-quiet colonial city.

Drug violence is raging across Mexico and almost 23,000 people have been killed in the fight among cartels and with Mexican security forces since President Felipe Calderon launched his army-led crackdown on drug gangs in 2006.

The escalating violence is scaring off tourists and worries Washington, which is giving anti-drug aid, equipment and police training to Mexico. Some investors have frozen investment in factories in cities on the U.S. border, especially in Ciudad Juarez, the most deadly flash point in the drug war.

(Reporting by Luis Rojas and Robert Campbell; editing by Mohammad Zargham)