GUADALAJARA, México (AFP)—Mexican authorities said Thursday they had rescued eight people who had been forcibly recruited by one of the country’s most notorious drug cartels.

The recruits, two of whom were on crutches, were discovered in a clandestine clinic operated by Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

Very little light reached the property, where mattresses were strewn on the floor in rooms with heavily stained walls, images released by Jalisco state prosecutors showed.

A cap bearing an image of Jesus Malverde, popularly known as the saint of drug traffickers, was visible in one image.

Prosecutor Salvador Gonzalez described the farm where the clinic was located as a CJNG stronghold.

“It operated as a place to shelter people recruited by organised crime who, for one reason or another, ended up injured in connection with the activities they were made to carry out and needed to recover,” he told a press conference.

“They had been deprived of their freedom,” Gonzalez added.

Six people guarding the clinic were arrested.

Jalisco has one of the highest rates of missing persons in Mexico, with cartels luring many victims into recruitment with fake job offers.

Authorities discovered the site while investigating the disappearance of a 20-year-old man last seen in late July.

The victim had left his home in a taxi to respond to a supposed job offer on a farm.

Last week, the government said it had disabled more than 1,700 social media profiles that were spreading fake job offers and attempting to lure young people into crime.

Some 134,000 people are missing in Mexico.