Gardaí: Everything must go... on Facebook

Paul Neilan

Gardaí in Bailieborough are to hold an online Dutch auction on Facebook for a haul of seized tools and CCTV cameras worth thousands of euro.
The items, 34 in all, which include angle grinders, jigsaws, chainsaws, a compressor, a dehumidifier, ultra violet cameras, a white dome camera, fuel pumps and more were seized from just one property over a year ago. Rightful owners of the various items could not be found.
Gardaí refused to name from whom the items were taken but are anticipating a large number of bids.
Bids will be for all items in one lot and will be taken anonymously over the social networking site.
The novel move follows last week’s auction by the Criminal Assets Bureau of a luxury Rolex watch on eBay, the first time it has auctioned off a confiscated item on the internet.
Inspector Gordon Englishby of Bailieborough Garda Station says that similar auctions, like the one in Kevin Street, are “the standard method but we thought we would use the page, give it a go and just throw it out there”.
“We [gardaí] might do 10 of them a year, items come our way either by being found, seized or handed in by the public and at the end of a year and a day they are forfeited to the State if no owner is found,” he explained.
The Facebook page, ‘Bailieborough District Crime Prevention’, reads: “Bailieborough Gardaí have come into possession of a consignment of tools and we are now inviting tenders for the purchase of these tools as one lot.
“The highest tender wins the lot. Please forward all tenders for the attention of the Sergeant in Charge, Bailieborough Garda Station, Bailieborough, Co Cavan. Closing date for tenders is the 31st October 2013.”