Back in November of 2018, about thirty-five pounds worth of gold bars were found inside a lunchbox at Manchester airport. The HRM Revenue & Customs branch of the UK government was the one to seize this bounty from an individual traveling to Dubai. Those beautiful gold bars were thought to be proceeds from crime and placed on auction as a deterrent to criminals looking to trade in precious metals.
Wilsons Auctions was the company tapped to auction off the gold bars. All the bars were sold in eight different lots, with weights ranging from 999.5g to 2776.4g. This online auction began on Thursday, September 3, and will end at 2:00 pm on Friday, September 4. So far, one lot (pictured below) is at a bid £43,600… that’s $578,303 for all those languishing away in The States.
All the money raised through the sale of these golden bricks will go to the public. Places like schools and hospitals are some of the top winners in auctions such as these — the UK practices something amazing called socialize medicine. Funds go a long way to helping the NHS serve all people without those people having to worry about paying insanely high bills… we are looking at you America.
And while gold bars seized from bad guys, doing bad deeds is really interesting, we were wondering what other kinds of things people have found or seized while at the airport. While I was personally hoping for something really interesting, it seems gold is really one of the biggest finds at not just airports, but pubs, gardens, and potato fields. This is because gold is one of the easiest things to use as currency.
Obviously a government entity can’t just run away with a bunch of gold bars, but it does make me wonder what I’d do if I found all that gold. I’d like to think I would do the right thing and turn it into the authorities, but there is another part of me that thinks I might buy golden pineapples. What would you all do if you found a bunch of gold bars? Turn it in or buy something wild? Let us know in the comments below. And as always, from all us at Trill!: stay safe, wash your hands, Black Lives Matter, don’t forget your mask.
Featured image via WikiCommons
