In 2009, somebody walked into a government auction in Surrey, B.C., placed a winning bid of $37 on a piece of radar equipment, collected the goods and left, a news report said Friday.

There’s a hitch. The $29,000 transmitter was part of a sophisticated missile defence system that the Department of National Defence never intended to sell. The government called in the RCMP to recover the transmitter.

The information was made public after a Freedom of Information request by the Montreal newspaper La Presse uncovered a report sent to Defence Minister Peter McKay outlining the sale and the ministry’s reaction to turning over a piece of “controlled” equipment to a civilian.

The buyer’s identity hasn’t been released, nor is it known what punishment, if any, he or she faced.

According to La Presse, ministry officials realized three years later that a civilian had bought unauthorized equipment, and first offered to reimburse the buyer the $37 auction price. When the buyer refused, the department boosted its offer to $2,000.

The original cost of the wave radar transmitter, before depreciation, was $29,000, La Presse reported.

When the buyer rejected the second offer in May, 2012, the government gave the buyer 48 hours to return the 4.5-kilogram equipment to the ministry.

When the buyer again refused, the government summoned the RCMP, retrieved the radar equipment and returned it to the ministry, La Presse reported.