ONE of the world's most brutal drug cartels allegedly forces recruits to eat the hearts of rivals straight from their chest in a chilling initiation ceremony.

       The notorious Mexican drug gang posted sickening footage of one of its members eating a rival's heart straight from his mangled chest in Zacatecas state last month.

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       Jalisco New Generational Cartel members are forced to eat raw human hearts Credit: LiveGorecom 3

       This new recruit is recorded allegedly tearing into a rival's heart Credit: LiveGorecom

       The recording - which is too shocking to publish - shows a member of the notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) crouched over the dead body of a rival gangster from the Sinaloa Cartel.

       The vile thug starts biting large chunks out of the man's heart before pretending to offer it to the lifeless body to taste while another member hacks away at a second corpse in the background.

       The dead victim had his arms tied and appears to have his chest ripped open.

       The brutal initiation ceremony was intended to scare Sinaloa gang members - the cartel once run by drug kingpin El Chapo - Dr Robert J Bunker, a security analyst and expert on Mexican cartels, told The Daily Beast.

       "Given its warning to other Mayo Zambada gunmen, the video has clearly been produced for PSYOPS purposes by the CJNG unit involved in the incident who then uploaded it to social media," Bunker said.

       The ruthless gang has forced new members to eat the raw human hearts of rival gangsters as part of the cartel's "terror school" started up in 2015.

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       The hideous practice was said to be used as a means to root out moles and test the loyalty of new recruits but it said not to be widespread.

       Alfredo Castillo, a federal security commissioner for Michoacan state, Mexico, said back in 2015: "The ritual ranged from dismembering people they intended to kill to sometimes serving up the heart."

       CJNG recruits are hardened through an extreme combat course which includes learning how to use weapons and how to set up secret locations across Zacatecas.

       Within three to four months, recruits forced to eat human flesh and are taught how to sever fingers and toes - the cartel's favoured torture technique for interrogating rival gangs.

       A former CJNG member told the Daily Beast: "They are given a choice of one of those pieces to eat in front of the boss.

       "You have to do it without reacting or vomiting or you are beaten. If you didn’t want to [eat human flesh] they wouldn’t let you leave, they had you there."

       Recuits are also forced to sleep next to the dead at night to desensitise them and anyone caught breaking the rules face being brutally murdered.

       The CJNG is one of the largest and most prominent gangs in Mexico and Puerto Rico and is led by Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera Cervantes.

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       The JNGC run drug lines across Mexico and Puerto Rico Credit: Twitter / @Dubitandum_