Most of us can only find some dust and four random wires in our roof, so what the f happens when someone stumbles across plastic bags filled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash?
A Kiwi couple who were settling into their new house made the wild discovery after an electrician found 5 vacuum-sealed packs of banknotes totaling $232,440 in their roof. That’s quit your job and move to another country type cash.
The couple did the honest thing and phoned the police to tell them about their impressive discovery. The case is now with the High Court which will decide if the couple is allowed to keep it.
So what ever happened to that old expression we used to say as kids called ‘finders keepers’?
Turns out the police reckon it could be drug money after the property was found to have gang links.
A University of Canterbury Criminologist Dr Jarrod Gilbert told Stuff there was also a safety risk if the couple kept the money as the original owner could “come knocking” and “they may not ask very politely” for the cash back.
Here in NZ you can also be charged with ‘theft by finding’, so if you stumble across an insane amount of money in your travels, do NOT immediately go on a luxury shopping spree or purchase that VIP Coachella ticket you’ve always wanted.
The large amount of money has been slapped with a restraining order, meaning the couple don’t get access to the funds unless they win the case.
Tbh, we don’t even know how to access our roofs to check, but it may be worth having a peak when you can figure out how a ladder works.
