Estonia's police auctions contain surprising objects
This week, many people noticed that the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) was auctioning off luxury gold coins and jewelry online. "Aktuaalne kaamera: Nädal" looked into why and what is being sold.
Ülle Kraun has worked for the police for 30 years and has been selling confiscated assets for the last seven on the osta.ee auction platform.
Coins tend to sell well and the proceeds are returned to the state.
"These items are currently up for auction. Today, they already have bids — this one has reached €600, and that one is nearly €300 /.../ We sell them in small batches to avoid flooding the market," Kraun told AK.
Jewelry is more personal. Some pieces were custom-made and reflect the aesthetics and symbols popular in the underworld. Crucifixes, for example, are very common.
"There's no hallmark on this piece. We have them appraised by the National Metrology Institute of Estonia. For example, the figure of Jesus on this chain is more valuable than the gold itself. It even features bricks, seemingly representing prison walls made of limestone. This is also handcrafted, a custom job. I do not think an ordinary person would have a chain like this made," Kraun said.
"This chain has 50 small stones on it. I do not know the value of these stones. I would guess they are diamonds, but I am not certain," she added.
It's a strange job — selling items that were forcibly taken from someone. The confidential information on the plastic bags is all Kraun knows about the previous owners.
"I really do not want to know who the property belonged to. Not long ago, I got a call — a criminal leader who had just been released phoned me, asking why I sold his property," she recounted.
Her response was that the property now belongs to the Estonian state.
There are other confiscated goods as well. At the Muuga Port, bitumen, with a starting price of €640,000, is waiting for a buyer.
There are also lamps left over from a cannabis farm. The first potential buyers raised suspicions that they intended to use their lights for the original purpose.
"So we thought, why not offer them to Tallinn Zoo? We contacted the zoo, and it turned out they still had Soviet-era lamps, which were very energy-inefficient. We were able to give them a large portion of the lamps," Kraun explained.
"Aktuaalne kaamera," asked Kraun if she ever felt that some of the items might carry a bad aura.
"Yes. I would not want to own such items myself," she said.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Helen Wright