Mexican inmates accused of using newborn baby to smuggle drugs inside prison after infant is found dead in a trash can

The discovery of a dead newborn baby inside a trash can at a notorious Mexican prison has fueled speculation that the infant's body was perhaps used to smuggle drugs into the facility.

According to reports from Mexican news outlet El Sol de Puebla, the theory gained traction due, in part, to an unexplained incision in the baby boy's abdomen at the time he was found inside the San Miguel prison in the state of Puebla.

State government officials say the boy was just six days old when he was discovered by an inmate searching for plastic bottles in the trash. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, and state officials reportedly have yet to determine the identity of the young child or his parents.

Vice News reported that the incident flew under the radar for several days until the president of and co-founder of the nonprofit Reinserta, Saskia Niño De Rivera, picked up on it and began investigating.

Reinserta is a group that works with children and adolescents who have been exposed to traumatic situations related to violence in Mexico. Vice reported that the nonprofit works specifically with children who are being raised behind bars with their incarcerated parents and also offers programs that help young offenders reintegrate into society.

De Rivera made the human drug mule allegations during an interview with the media outlet this week.

"Everything looks like the baby entered the prison dead, the minor has an incision in the abdomen that we have not been clear about why that was done, for which it is suspected that it was used to transport drugs inside," she said, according to a Google translation of her remarks.

Her group released a statement this week saying that they "strongly condemn" the state government for allowing the tragic incident to happen.

“The authorities are completely overwhelmed and are complicit in the acts of corruption that are happening inside the prison,” the statement reportedly read.

Reinserta also alleged that San Miguel prison has been taken over by inmates who now produce drugs within the prison walls and regularly bring in female sex workers to service them. The group even suggested that inmates run dog-fighting rings in the prison.

In a recent appearance on Mexican news network Milenio, De Rivera called the state government's response to the incident "absurd," asking, "How can it be that the authorities didn’t realize that a minor entered — alive or dead — and then never came out of the prison?"