Mexico City - An inmate who was serving time for drug trafficking was murdered and chopped up in pieces in a prison in the western Mexican town of Uruapan, authorities in the state of Michoacan said Monday.

The guards at the prison, some 400 kilometres west of Mexico City, noticed the man's absence when they went through the list of inmates after visiting hours Sunday afternoon, a spokesman for the Michoacan public prosecutor's office told dpa.

Following a search of several hours, the remains were found inside plastic bags inside trash cans near a volleyball court.

The authorities were investigating to find the killers.

More than 7,000 people have been killed in Mexico since the beginning of 2008 in incidents linked to drug trafficking, either as violence between various drug cartels or in clashes between the cartels and Mexico's security forces.