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Drug Lords' Bling Dazzles Mexican Agency

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 20, 2009 7:59 AM CDT

(Newser) – Amid the ongoing drug wars in Mexico, one small branch of the country's finance ministry has a special job: selling off the jewel-encrusted pistols, armor-plated Hummers, and even wild panthers and lions seized from dealers' bling-tastic mansions. "You realize that the mansions in movies like Scarface aren't exaggerations," one official tells the Wall Street Journal. "The real thing can be more amazing."

The agency recently took control of a chalet-style compound complete with an underground hot tub complex, a menagerie of tigers and a gorilla, and a disco equipped with a stripper pole. Officials in Mexico City have to take care of a wildly broad variety of assets, including a Boeing aircraft and frozen sharks stuffed with cocaine in a matter of days. But the feds express little amusement at their finds. "I don't like seeing kidnappers' houses," said one, after seizing a house with a mural depicting Jesus as a horrifying ghoul.

An army officer shows a seized handgun customized with an engraving in the butt grip of Mexico's patron saint, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
An army officer shows a seized handgun customized with an engraving in the butt grip of Mexico's patron saint, Our Lady of Guadalupe.   (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
A customized fully automatic AK-47 assault rifle covered in gold with intricate engravings sits in a seized weapons warehouse at the secretary of the defense headquarters in Mexico City.
A customized fully automatic AK-47 assault rifle covered in gold with intricate engravings sits in a seized weapons warehouse at the secretary of the defense headquarters in Mexico City.   (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
A guard shows of one of 305,424 confiscated weapons locked in vaults, just a fraction of those used by criminals in Mexico.
A guard shows of one of 305,424 confiscated weapons locked in vaults, just a fraction of those used by criminals in Mexico.   (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 18 comments
ReadLessKnowMore
Jul 28, 2009 6:52 AM CDT
Killing in style.
emptycalm
Jul 21, 2009 6:32 AM CDT
Well most of the people here get their weed from this country or canada. I doubt legalizing pot would do anything but hurt the mexican pot trade. Why buy dirt when you could buy local, good stuff for probably the same price?
Newser001
Jul 20, 2009 4:20 AM CDT
Agreed, with the exception of cocaine and stronger; I only seek herbal legalization; cannabis / hash legalization, etc.

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