China's most-wanted man may have slipped through authorities' fingers in the late 1990s, but his bulletproof Mercedes-Benz has finally been sold to boost state coffers.
The luxurious 1997 S600 belonging to Lai Changxing , who is fighting extradition from Canada, was sold at auction in Beijing yesterday for 1.25 million yuan.
The identity of the middle-aged buyer was not revealed, but there was keen bidding between him and another potential owner. The bidding opened at 1.06 million yuan.
Lai bought the car in Hong Kong for 12 million yuan but it had failed to sell at previous auctions in 2002 and in August this year, where the starting prices were 4.5 million yuan and 2 million yuan respectively.
Before yesterday's auction, the vehicle had been displayed at a military museum in Beijing with 17 other cars that had been seized since 1998 as part of the mainland's fight against smuggling.
About 450 people from around the nation attended yesterday's sale.
Cao Zhichun from Fengyang in Anhui , a businessman in the chemical materials sector, said: 'I'm here representing my boss who wants that car.