French police swoop on 13 tonnes of contraband Eiffel Tower souvenirs
Baku, April 14 (AZERTAC). Police in Paris have seized some weighty contraband: a batch of miniature Eiffel Towers tipping the scales at a total of 13 tonnes. Police official Pierre Coric says a Paris souvenir shop owner, her husband and her son also were arrested in the weighty trinket-seizure Friday.
The three were accused of selling the trinkets at tourist locations including the Louvre and the actual Eiffel Tower without a permit.
The arrest operation, led jointly by French customs, social security and the police transport division, followed several months of surveillance of the souvenir shop.The operation, led jointly by French customs, social security and the police transport division, followed several months of surveillance of the souvenir shop. Police say the boutique illegally rakes in some €1 million ($1.31 million) per year.
If 13 tons seems like a heavy load, it pales in comparison to the real Eiffel Tower, which weighs in at 11,100 tons.
Known as "the man who sold the Eiffel Tower", Victor Lustig was one of the most talented confidence tricksters who ever lived.
He established himself by working scams on the ocean liners steaming between Paris and New York City. Lustig`s first con involved a "money-printing machine".
In 1925, Lustig`s master con began when he was reading a newspaper: an article discussed the problems the city was having maintaining the Eiffel Tower. So he adopted the persona of a government official, and sent six scrap metal dealers an invitation to discuss a possible business deal. Lustig told the group that the upkeep on the Eiffel Tower was so outrageous that the city could not maintain it any longer, and wanted to sell it for scrap. So he sold the Eiffel Tower to one of the scrap metal dealers and took a train to Vienna with the suitcase full of cash. The buyer was too humiliated to complain to the police.
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