More than 10,000 seized electric bikes and scooters were sold at a public auction in France on Tuesday, raising € 1,853,800, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) said.
The sale involved vehicles seized during Investigation Calypso, an ongoing EPPO case into suspected customs duty evasion and large-scale VAT fraud linked to goods imported from China and sold across the EU.
EPPO said in a release this week that the investigation targets several criminal networks alleged to manage the full chain — import, distribution across Member States and sales to end customers — while evading customs duties and committing VAT fraud.
The suspected scheme has been running for at least eight years and is estimated to have caused losses of at least € 350 million in customs duties and € 450 million in VAT.
Seizures followed raids in 2025
Ten suspects were arrested in raids at the end of June 2025 across four countries, EPPO said.
In France, more than 10,000 e-bikes and e-scooters were seized with support from the French National Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF).
The auction was organised by the French Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (AGRASC), with the proceeds potentially to be redistributed subject to a final court judgment.
All persons concerned are presumed innocent until proven guilty in the competent courts of law.
