Luxury watches, including a Rolex priced at 15,000 euros, diamonds at 30,000 euros, platinum ingots at 22,000 euros each... In total, 350 objects, some "exceptional" recovered during controls customs, were sold at auction this Friday, in a crowded Bercy conference room, transformed for the occasion into an auction room.
At the hammer for the sale of the first lot, the Minister of Action and Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, raised the bids for a Golf GTD DSG, which served as a "scout" in a go-fast returning from 'Spain.
Listed at 15,000 euros, the car found a buyer for 28,000 euros
.
Among the other lots: designer bags, sound equipment, bottles of alcohol, gold coins, jewellery, shoes... "Most of these goods were seized because they had no not been declared during customs checks on entering or leaving French territory,” explains the Deputy Director General of Customs and Indirect Taxation, Jean-François Dutheil.
Read alsoLuxury cars, wines, watches… The auction of objects seized by justice brings in nearly 3 million euros
These special auctions, organized several times a year by customs, have already brought in nearly 80 million euros to the State in 2021.
This time, the National Directorate of State Interventions hopes to draw "between 700,000 and one million euros", just for this single sale.
Some 5,000 people had registered to participate, including around 900 present at Bercy.
"This sale is exceptional by the number of lots, by the participation, by the opportunity it presents to give a spotlight to the teams of investigators", specifies Gabriel Attal.
Before adding: "Behind these sales, there is the financing of our teachers and our police officers, and the tariff shield".