MEXICO CITY (AFP) - A Mexican journalist kidnapped in Veracruz state last week has been found dead along with two other corpses in a clandestine grave, a justice official said on Tuesday.

Gregorio Jimenez de la Cruz was discovered in the Choapas municipality of the eastern Mexican state, said Enoc Maldonado, head of criminal investigations in Veracruz.

Four suspects in the case have already been arrested, he added.

Veracruz is one of the Mexican states hardest hit by drug-related violence by cartels such as the Zetas, notorious for abductions and extortion, as well as robbery and trafficking of undocumented migrants to the United States.

Jimenez was a reporter for NotiSUR, a daily that circulates in southern Veracruz and also wrote for a small local paper "Liberal del Sur," on criminal justice matters.

He was abducted on February 5, having just dropped his children off at school.

Since 2000, at least 86 journalists have been killed and more than 20 have gone missing in Mexico, according to the National Human Rights Commission.