Precious stones, ingots, vehicles or a haute couture coat … Customs organized this Friday in Paris an auction of 350 objects seized during checks, which brought in more than 1.3 million euros to the State, beyond its expectations.
“We explain this success by the ‘beautiful merchandise’ and the surprising number of people present in the room”in the premises of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, reacted to AFP Alain Caumeil, director of the National Directorate of State Interventions (DNID), deploring no unsold items. “Behind these sales, there is the financing of our teachers and our police officers, and the tariff shield” against the energy surge, underlined the Minister for Action and Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, present at the opening of the auction. “Most of the goods were seized because they were not declared during customs checks when entering or leaving French territory”recalled the Deputy Director General of Customs and Indirect Rights, Jean-François Dutheil.
5,000 Internet users and 900 people on site
The very first batch – a Volkswagen Golf having served as an “opener” in a “go-fast” to transport drugs at full speed – was priced at 15,000 euros. The vehicle left at 28,000. In seven hours, the event attracted 5,000 Internet users via the “Drouot digital” platform, including a hundred buyers abroad (Swiss, Dutch, Belgian, German, Hong Kong and Emirati). Nine hundred people were present in a crowded room at Bercy. “I mainly come to buy jewelry for my family, and it’s almost my husband’s birthday”slips to AFP Elisabeth, 65, a retiree living in Paris, who has already acquired a gold bar at 800 euros on sale at 300 and a Prada bag at 200 euros put on sale. sale at 100.
“It’s the first time I’ve taken part in an auction, and I came out of curiosity”, explains a 32-year-old Parisian doctor, Emery, who acquired two jewels including a ring at 400 euros, put on sale at 300 euros. Potential buyers could directly observe luxury watches, including a Rolex priced at 15,000 euros, diamonds estimated at 30,000 euros, platinum bars at 22,000 euros each, bottles of alcohol, or even shoes. .. Of the jewelry could even be tried on. Some had been confiscated during checks in jewelry stores where the professionals had not registered the objects in the police book or had not punched them. On the other hand, the 14 vehicles offered, especially sedans and trucks, had remained in the stores of the Estate.
The DNID organizes around a hundred sales every year, most of them on the internet. In 2021, they brought in some 80 million euros for the State.