Corentin Alloune / Photo credit: AFP PHOTO / SOTHEBY'S 11:09 am, April 25, 2023

This Tuesday, April 25, lots seized in drug trafficking cases will be auctioned at the Palais de Justice in Paris. The funds raised will be used for MILDECA, the interministerial mission to combat drugs and addictive behaviour.

Destocking operation, everything must disappear! The announcement does not come from a store, but from the Paris Court of Appeal, which hosts this Tuesday an auction of a very special kind.

Luxury watches, designer clothes, leather goods and sports cars recovered from drug traffickers will be sold. A double blow since the amount raised will go directly to the fight against drugs.

277 lots will be offered

25 vehicles, including a Lamborghini priced at €160,000, thirty Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci bags, fifteen Rolex watches displayed at €2,000, but also everyday objects such as vacuum cleaners or a food processor. In all, there are 227 lots, all from cases related to drug trafficking. The total amount of the bids is estimated at more than € 600,000.

The operation will make it possible to finance high-tech equipment, for example, for the benefit of the police and gendarmerie services that fight against this phenomenon, but also actions for the reintegration of drug addicts and the prevention of drug addiction.

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Record criminal asset seizures in 2022

"It is a global approach that leads to withdrawing from offenders or their criminal assets and on the other, reusing the sums in the global fight against the phenomenon," explains Nicolas Bessone, director general of AGRASC (Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets), which manages property seized by the courts.

The amount of seizures of criminal assets reached a new record in 2022, with more than €771 million seized in France to drug traffickers, pimps and tax evaders. The sale will begin at 13:30 p.m., in the historic Grand Trials Room of the Paris Court of Appeal.