Homeless couple returns £6,500 found in rubbish bag

A homeless Brazilian couple who live under the bridges of Sao Paulo found a rubbish bag filled with 20,000 reals (£6,500) on a sidewalk on Monday – and promptly turned it into the police.

Officials said the pair were out for a dawn stroll when they heard an alarm.

They walked closer to see what was going on and stumbled on a briefcase and a rubbish bag full of money. The pair alerted a nearby security guard, asking him to call the police.

"When we arrived, the couple gave us the money. It might be the money stolen last week from a Japanese restaurant," said Bruno dos Santos, a Brazilian military police spokesman.

The homeless pair "had the opportunity to flee with the money, but they called a security guard and asked him to call the military police. What they did is commendable," the spokesman said.

Jesus Silva Santos, the man who found the money, told the press that he earned a little more than £5 a day from recycling rubbish.

  

"My mother taught me never to steal," he said.

Source: agencies