This is the moment police officers dash to a rubbish depot to stop binmen who had unknowingly collected an old can that had been thrown out with 20 solid gold bars inside worth around GBP 105,000.
The panicked resident contacted the Carabinieri station in the seaside town of Porto Cesareo, Lecce province, southern Italy, to report that he had lost a small casket containing 20 gold bars worth approximately EUR 120,000, according to a statement issued on 12th February.
Officers began reconstructing the man’s movements and analysing footage from local surveillance cameras that showed that the tin had not been stolen, but instead had apparently been mistakenly disposed of along with household waste in a public bin in the Torre Lapillo district.
By that point, the bin had already been emptied by the local waste collection service and the contents transported in a rubbish truck to a waste disposal facility.
Carabinieri traced the refuse-collection vehicle’s route to the disposal site and, with the assistance of plant staff, began searching the rubbish it had collected.
After several hours of careful sifting, officers located the already compacted container, which still contained all 20 gold bars.
The recovered bars were subjected to verification of their lawful origin and ownership and following the completion of those checks, the gold bars were returned to their grateful owner.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below. Story By: Aloysius Fernandes, Sub-Editor: Simona Kitanovska, Agency: Clipzilla
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