Iraqi refugees turn in €14,000 found on subway

A 16-year-old Iraqi refugee girl found a bag in a Berlin U-Bahn (subway) train containing €14,000 ($16,750), which her mother later handed over to authorities, police said Tuesday.

A 78-year-old woman forgot the bag on the train on Friday night. After realizing she left the money in the U-Bahn, the woman notified transit authorities, who were unable to recover it.

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Within 48 hours, the refugee mother and daughter had voluntarily gone to police, notified them of the find and turned over the bag of money intact. "A student found a handbag with €14,000 and handed it over to police. The owner is happy. We say 'excellent' and 'thank you'," Berlin police tweeted. 

The family, who lives in a refugee center, is likely to receive a reward for their good deed. Under German law, the applicable reward for found objects or money is three percent for valuable goods. The reward amount is halved if the valuables are found on public transportation.

Good Samaritans come from all over

In 2016, police also hailed three Syrian refugees for their help in apprehending a suspect who was planning to carry out a bomb attack at an airport. The suspect had been the focus of a two-day manhunt, finally ending when the three Syrians realized that the fellow refugee, whom they had allowed to stay in their apartment, was indeed the fugitive.

cw/kl (Berliner Morgenpost)