Three young women were tortured, raped and murdered by an Argentinian drug gang – who captured it all live on Instagram.
Security minister Javier Alonso said the horrific crime was watched by about 45 people in a closed Instagram Live group.
Brenda del Castillo, Morena Verdi, and Lara Gutiérrez went missing on Friday. But police have now confirmed their bodies have been found buried in the garden of a house in the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires.
Detectives believe they were tricked into going to the property by their murderers.
Mr Alonso said: “They were last seen getting into a vehicle voluntarily because they had been invited to an event, not knowing they were falling into a trap set for them by an international drugs trafficking gang which had hatched a plan to kill them.
“The torture session was streamed live on social media – not recorded, broadcast live – to a private Instagram group, and apparently about 45 people watched it.
“The drug trafficking organisation has its operational command in Buenos Aires and they had chosen this house to carry out the murders.”
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
‘Brutal dehumanisation’
The Buenos Aires Ministry of Women and Diversity said the crime was a femicide – “the most extreme expressions of gender-based violence”.
A statement said: “In the context of drug-related crime, they are a brutal and ferocious expression of dehumanisation, cruelty, and neglect.
“We accompany their families and loved ones in their grief.”
Wasteland
The young women were last seen on CCTV footage from Friday evening, which showed them getting into a white pickup truck.
Their bodies were found at the house where their mobile phone signal was last detected.
The burned-out truck was later found in a section of wasteland 100m from the house.
Four people have so far been arrested.
Sky News has contacted Meta, the parent company of Instagram, for comment.
