Chiayi man gets toys confiscated, sent for auction over unpaid fines

Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) A Chiayi City man has had his vast collection of action figures repossessed and sent to be auctioned over his failure to pay more than NT$60,000 (US$1,943) in fines for unlicensed driving, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said Tuesday.

In a press release, the MOJ's Administrative Enforcement Administration branch in Chiayi said the man, surnamed Tseng (曾), owed fines for "multiple" incidents of driving without a license, in violation of the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act.

Upon checking Tseng's financial situation and learning that his independent business had shut down, the branch office concluded that likely he did not have the means to pay his outstanding debts, the statement said.

A deeper investigation, however, found that Tseng still had a vast trove of action figures, including once-popular figurines from the Japanese manga series "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba," stored in a warehouse from his former business, the brand office said.

In order to pay off Tseng's unpaid fines, enforcement officials seized the toy collection, and will auction the items off in the lobby of the administration's Chiayi branch office at 10 a.m. on Nov. 11, the statement said.