An honest passerby has handed a briefcase containing 22 gold bars and €3,500 in cash to Berlin police after finding it under a tree. Weighing around a kilogram, the gold bars are worth around €30,000 at the current gold price.
The treasure trove was found near a bank in the Neukölln district of the federal capital.
The police department posted a tweet with a picture of the hoard saying: “Amazing what you can find under a tree in Neukölln.”
Thanks to the passerby’s honesty, the briefcase, and more importantly its contents, were returned to their owner.
Berlin police used personal items left inside to track him down.
“The owner has been found. He said he put his things down while locking up his bicycle and then simply forgot about them,” they said.
Under current German law, people who return lost items are entitled to 3-5 percent of their value, which in this case would be €2,000.
Berlin authorities also said a “storage fee” of ten percent would be applied.