Security was tight and so was the bidding as the government held its long-awaited auction of jewelry seized from drug dealers.
The prize of the auction was a drug dealer's diamond-studded, 18-karat-gold pistol handles, which went for $21,000.About 75 Mexicans and foreigners, mostly men and all anonymous, bid Thursday on 278 lots of jewelry and coins. Items going on sale included sparkling pins in the shape of AK-47 automatic rifles, oversize amethyst rings and necklaces bearing the initials of Mexico's most infamous drug lords.
Four well-dressed Mexican men purchased a gold Cartier pendant with the initials "GL" for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, one of Mexico's top drug lords, who has been in prison since 1993.
The group spent a total of $40,000 at the auction.
Attorney General Antonio Lozano Gracia said proceeds of the sale - expected to raise more than $900,000 - will fund a major restructuring of his office, in part to root out agents tied to the drug dealers.
Seven more auctions are planned to sell off planes, vehicles, furniture and other property seized from traffickers.
With the weakening of the Colombian drug cartels, Mexico's drug lords are playing larger roles in the global business of drug trafficking. The attorney general estimated they grossed $30 billion a year.