A life-size figure model of popular Japanese fictional character Monkey D Luffy, seized from a young couple of drug suspects in the South, was yesterday auctioned for 110,000 baht.
The item went to a father and son in Bangkok who are avid collectors of figure models.
The Luffy model was the first on the list of more than 286 fictional models which went under the hammer yesterday.
The auction, organised by the Justice Ministry, attracted teenagers and grown-ups alike.
The reserve price for the Luffy model was set at 35,000 baht, while according to a post on www.carousell.com, a classifieds marketplace website based in Singapore, a life-size synthetic stone Luffy model costs about 33,726 baht.
The unnamed father and son said the model they bought at the auction was worth every baht as it was not available in the market. They also had their eyes on other prized items and said they "intended on splurging".
Monkey D Luffy, also known as Straw Hat Luffy, is a popular Japanese character and the the main protagonist of the One Piece manga series, created by Eiichiro Oda.
Narcotics Control Board (NCB) secretary-general Wichai Chaimongkon said it was the first time such fictional characters seized in drug cases were put up for auction.
The models were seized from a young couple in the South who bought more than a thousand of them using money they acquired through the drug trade.
Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said auctioning the seized assets was part of the ministry's enforcement of anti-narcotics laws, implemented under the government's drug suppression policy.
The auction presents the NCB with a legal means of relieving the agency of seized items. Assets that are not suitable for keeping for a long time can be sold by auction under the law with the money raised going into the ministry's drug suppression and prevention fund.
If the suspects from whom the items were seized are found not guilty by a court after the items were auctioned, they are given the money plus interest. Some of the money is also provided as financial assistance to families of drug suppression officers killed in their line of work.