The Mexican tax authority is auctioning 2,000 pieces of jewelry seized from criminals and tax cheats to raise money for building rural roads in western Mexico.
Ricardo Rodriguez Vargas is head of Mexico's Institute to Return the Stolen to the People. He said the goal of Sunday's sale is to raise 21 million pesos (USD 1.1 million) from the 148 lots of jewelry.
The auction took place outside Los Pinos, a mansion in the capital's Chapultepec Park that served as the official presidential residence until Dec. 1, when President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador took office and turned the property into a cultural center open to the public.
It's the third such auction of luxury goods organized by Lpez Obrador, who has sought to set a tone of austerity in his administration.