(1) List and appraisement. The Director shall cause a list containing a particular description of the goods, wares, or merchandise seized to be prepared in duplicate, and an appraisement thereof to be made by three sworn appraisers, to be selected by the Director who shall be respectable and disinterested inhabitants of the Virgin Islands residing within the internal revenue district wherein the seizure was made. Such list and appraisement shall be properly attested by the Director and such appraisers. Each appraiser shall be allowed for his services such compensation as the Director shall by regulations prescribe, to be paid in the manner similar to that provided for other necessary charges incurred in collecting internal revenue.
(2) Notice of seizure. If such goods are found by such appraisers to be of the value of $1,000 or less, the Director shall publish a notice for 3 weeks, in some newspaper of the district where the seizure was made, describing the articles and stating the time, place, and cause of their seizure, and requiring any person claiming them to appear and make such claim within 30 days from the date of the first publication of such notice.
(3) Execution of bond by claimant. Any person claiming the goods, wares, or merchandise so seized, within the time specified in the notice, may file with the Director a claim, stating his interest in the articles seized, and may execute a bond to the Virgin Islands in the penal sum of $250, conditioned that, in case of condemnation of the articles so seized, the obligors shall pay all the costs and expenses of the proceedings to obtain such condemnation; and upon the delivery of such bond to the Director, he shall transmit the same, with the duplicate list of description of the goods seized, to the United States attorney, and such attorney shall proceed thereon in the ordinary manner prescribed by law.
(4) Sale in absence of bond. If no claim is interposed and no bond is given within the time above specified, the Director shall give reasonable notice of the sale of the goods, wares, or merchandise by publication, and, at the time and place specified in the notice, shall sell the articles so seized at public auction, or upon competitive bids, in accordance with such regulations as may be prescribed by the Director.