For sale: slippers to snowmobiles

Norwegian customs authorities are auctioning off 547 cowboy hats, three wooden bath tubs and stacks of knitting wool to raise cash from items seized at the border.

“We have been organising these internet auctions since 2006-2007 to sell items seized by customs all over Norway,” Jan Erik Haerum, an adviser at the customs authority said yesterday. “We get quite an assorted collection of goods here.”

The agency has already sold off 151 items. Bidders have until Friday if they’re interested in picking up a snowmobile for the equivalent of £1,686, 70 pairs of slippers for £335, or even a used Saab car engine for £1.30.