Fab Four photos among crime assets sale in Belfast
LIMITED edition prints from the last official publicity and promotional shoot for The Beatles are up for grabs at a Belfast auction house.
Tom Murray’s The Beatles: Summer of 68 ‘Mad Day Out’ collection will go under the hammer tomorrow in Wilsons Auctions’ latest Government disposal. Among the 100 lots are a fishing trawler seized in an £80m drugs bust and a yacht used to smuggle cocaine.
The items include repossessed assets, proceeds of crime-related assets and corporate liquidation stock. Wilsons manages auctions for more than 40 law enforcement agencies, as well as a significant number of official bodies across the UK and Ireland.
Eye-catching lots include six showjumping stallions, ranging from four to 14 years old, and The Tacabanda II, a 1982 36ft yacht currently docked in Brighton Marina.
It was seized by the National Crime Agency after it was used to smuggle cocaine with a street value of almost £500,000.
Also for sale is the Bianca, a fishing boat used in one of Britain’s biggest-ever drug smuggling operations.
Thirty-eight bales of cocaine were found hidden under bags of sand and gravel in the boat’s fish hold. It’s understood to be the third biggest cocaine haul in British waters.
It’s also a chance for bidders to get their hands on a 1993 former border patrol vessel. The Sentinel has a top speed of 26.6 knots and was decommissioned in 2013.
The monthly auction will include two BMW cars, a BMW motorbike, as well as Rolex watches, designer shoes, artwork and Asian gold.
It will take place in Wilsons Auctions’ Belfast branch, but with online bidding open to a worldwide audience and with no reserve, all items will be sold as seen to the highest bidder. Bidders must register before midday tomorrow and pay a £500 refundable deposit.