International

A rather forgetful Berliner had a slice of luck on Thursday. A very honest person found several bars of gold and a huge wad of cash that he had forgotten under a tree in the Neukölln district.
     The owner told police that he had put the money and gold down as he was locking up his bicycle - and had then simply forgotten about his valuables.

Somewhat later, a passerby spotted a folder under a tree near a bank branch, and was surprised to find 22 gold bars and €3,500 in cash inside. The honest person immediately brought the find to the police.

Alongside the money and the gold there were also personal items in the folder, which allowed the police to quickly track down the owner, who dropped by the station later in the day.The finder of the gold won’t go away empty-handed though. In Germany, people who find lost items have a legal right to between 3 and 5 percent of its worth.

With the value of a kilogram of gold currently lying at around €35,000, the lucky finder could earn close to €2,000.

Berlin authorities are also demanding their own slice of the riches. According to their own statement, they will charge a “storage fee” of 10 percent of the lost items' value.