Syrian refugee in Germany hailed a hero for returning $225,000 he found in donated wardrobe

Mr Muhannad M pointing to a spot in the wardrobe where he found the money. PHOTO: PRESSEPORTAL.DE

A Syrian man living in the town of Minden, Germany, has been praised after he found 150,000 euros (S$225,000) worth of cash and savings books and promptly handed it to the authorities.

Minden police said the 25-year-old, identified by German tabloid Bild as Mr Muhannad M, discovered the money in a wardrobe given to him by a charity after being granted asylum last year.

Mr Muhannad, who had fled the war-torn Syrian city of Homs, was assembling the furniture when he found 50,000 euros in cash between two shelves.

Savings books containing about 100,000 euros were found hidden under a board.

Mr Muhannad said he had never seen such a large amount of cash before and had checked on the Internet if the notes, in 500 euros denominations, were real.

He told Bild the money would have been enough to bring his two younger brothers to Germany, but instead he handed it to the town's office, where staff passed it on to police.

The cash and savings books were worth about 150,000 euros. PHOTO: PRESSEPORTAL.DE

"Allah would never allow me to finance my own interests with someone else's wealth," he said.

In its statement, Minden police called him the town's "hero of the day".

"This young man has behaved in an exemplary manner and deserves great credit," the statement added. "People often report small amounts of money found to the police, but such a large sum is absolutely exceptional."

Police are still trying to locate the owner of the lost money, but Mr Muhannad will reportedly receive a finder's fee of three per cent of the value.

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