Thanks to an honest bottle recycler, a resident who threw 200,000 yuan (US$32,302) in cash into a bag of household trash recovered the money, police said yesterday.
The forgetful owner of the money surnamed Song did not even realize she had tossed the money until police found her through the help of a bank.
"I still don't know who threw away the money, me or my husband," the middle-aged Song told reporters with a joyful laugh while claiming her money at the neighborhood committee at 10am yesterday.
"I remember I put the bag of money beside a bag of trash," Song said.
The money, two stacks of cash in a red bag, was noticed about 8am by a bottle recycler surnamed Chen, who was picking waste bottles at Chenkai Garden at 400 Longsheng Road in Jinshan District.
The huge amount of cash astonished the woman, who reported it to the neighborhood committee. The committee then called police, who went to an outlet of China Construction Bank in the area since its logo was printed on the red bag.
"We went to the bank and the staff there checked their record for us," an officer said. The bank then found Song, who had gotten the cash from the bank about 4:30pm on Sunday. "Fortunately, not many people cashed out their money at the counter (on Sunday) and we soon identified Song," the officer said.
It was not known late yesterday if the bottle recycler had gotten a reward.
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