In a country as lawless as Mexico, it seems fitting that top crime lords want to show off their ill-gotten wealth. So what better way than getting their hands on a gold-plated assault rifle, together with some diamond-encrusted handguns? Mexico’s drug traffickers are known for using firearms that have been personalized with gold, diamonds and other gems.The army even has a museum in Mexico City that features exhibitions of firearms decorated with gold and precious gems that were seized from criminals.

Members spend part of their ill-gotten wealth, pictures show some‘pimped’ pistols found in a raid on a home in western Mexico had Solid gold or silver-plated grips or were glittered with real diamonds.

Some of the assault rifles are almost entirely 14-k gold-plated and there was even a silencer plated with gold. One particularly image-conscious gangster has made his pistol unique by adding rows of gaudy red and green jewels and a Ferrari logo.