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Workers find gold bars in Swiss bushes

Published: 12 Jul 2012 16:19 GMT+02:00 | Print version
Updated: 12 Jul 2012 16:19 GMT+02:00

Two council workers in Switzerland could be in for an unexpected windfall after finding gold ingots worth 124,000 francs ($126,000) behind a bush, it was reported on Thursday.

"I saw a package wrapped in white tissue paper, with lots of adhesive tape around it. It looked like a packet of drugs," said Jean-Marc Wenger, from the Swiss town of Klingnau in the north of the country, near the German border.

It was only when the men -- who were out grass cutting -- opened the mysterious package on June 28 that they discovered an undisclosed number of gold bars weighing 50-100 grams each, some 2.5 kilograms in total, ATS said.

But with no markings on the ingots and no reported thefts, police remain puzzled about why the haul was left behind a bush.

"It's gold all right, the ingots have been tested. I've never known anything like it," said police spokesman Bernhard Graser, confirming a report by Die Botschaft newspaper.

If the gold remains unclaimed for five years, the council workers would be entitled to it themselves, the report said.

"I haven't heard anything from the police (since reporting the find)," said Wenger.

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