A Mexican government official leading the truth commission said on Friday that six of the 43 Mexican students who were kidnapped and disappeared in 2014 were reportedly kept alive in a warehouse for several days before being handed over to the local army base commander who ordered their killing.

Also, Alejandro Encinas, Deputy Minister of the Interior, revealed with little fuss during a lengthy defense of the commission's report, which was first released a week ago. At that time, despite declaring the disappearances a "state crime" and stating that the army witnessed it without intervening, Encinas did not mention handing over six students to Colonel José Rodríguez Pérez.

On Friday, Encinas emphasized that authorities closely monitored the students from the radical Teachers' College in Ayotzinapa since they left their campus through their kidnapping by local police in the city of Iguala that night. Among the kidnapped students was a soldier who infiltrated the school, and Encinas confirmed that the army did not follow its own protocols to try to save him.

Encinas said: "There is also information supported by emergency phone calls alleging that six of the 43 disappeared students were held for several days alive in what they call the old warehouse, and from there they were handed over to the colonel." The six students are alleged to have remained alive for up to four days after the events before being killed and disappeared on the order of the colonel, who is said to be Colonel José Rodríguez Pérez at that time.

The army's role in the disappearance of the students has long been a source of tension between families and the government. From the beginning, there were questions about what the army knew and its possible involvement, and the students' parents demanded for years to be allowed to search the large base in Iguala but were not permitted access until 2019 alongside Encinas and the truth commission.

The truth commission's report indicates that the army recorded an emergency call from an anonymous source on September 30, 2014, four days after the students were kidnapped. The caller said the students were held in a large concrete warehouse at a site described as "Pueblo Viejo."

The report stated that on September 30, the colonel mentioned they would take care to clean up everything and that he had already taken responsibility for the six students who were still alive.

On September 26, 2014, local police took the students from buses they seized in Iguala, and the motive remains unclear after eight years as their bodies have not been found, although burnt bone fragments matching three of the students have been identified.

Last week, federal agents arrested former Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam, who oversaw the original investigation. A judge on Wednesday ordered his trial on charges of forced disappearance, torture, and official misconduct, as prosecutors allege that Murillo Karam fabricated a false narrative about what happened to the students to quickly close the case.

Authorities also said last week that arrest warrants were issued for 20 soldiers and army officers, five local officials, 33 local police officers, 11 state police officers, as well as 14 gang members.