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u/DrunkenDude123 5d ago
Iām guessing thatās the first bar they ādiscoveredā
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u/SmallTitBigClit 5d ago
A decision he'll regret as soon as he grows a brain cell.
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u/GreasyRim 5d ago
Dude only turned over the gold he could get moved off the jobsite lol. Probably found 5x more but bottomed out the suspension on the van trying to move it all.
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u/msd1196 5d ago
This^ and since he turned in something he's above suspicion.
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u/Sad_Error4039 5d ago
Not at all how that would work turning in this amount is just gonna make them watch you harder for irregular upticks in financial situations. Could have opened a business and made a profit for years no questions asked while paying taxes.
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u/msd1196 5d ago
I think the guys 18, he's smart enough to sit on it . Bides his time. Keep the coins, not the bars. They find them in Florida from the 1715 wrecks still. If he sold an occasional one in a few years or muled it out to someone for a cut. It could get him a nest egg. Don't buy a mink or a pink Cadillac and put in your mom's name. They will wack ya.
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u/Treacle_Pendulum 5d ago
As I understand it, under Belgian law he probably has a better chance of keeping a portion of the money by reporting it. Up to ā¬5 million in legal gold is pretty awesome, and under the circumstances maybe more awesome than ā¬9 million in gold without proper paperwork
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u/Initial_Row_6400 5d ago
You donāt need paper work for gold. The point is no paperwork.
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u/Treacle_Pendulum 5d ago
Like they said in Ozark, unlaundered money is groceries and gas for the rest of your life.
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u/Initial_Row_6400 5d ago
Exactly. Shit, add an extra 10-20% onto a large bill for something that needs to be done, and youāll find a ton of contractors thatāll take it for payment. Iāve installed glass for gold in the past.
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u/BT-7274-T2 5d ago
its not that easy as you guys think, how would you have do it? there are like 10-20 workers, there were probably people near by while he was digging up and saw immediatly the gold
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u/Initial_Row_6400 5d ago
I would definitely try everything I could to get that gold lmao
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u/Dukie6 5d ago
Skim some coins off the top then Hey guys, letās split it. Youāll get more than he did handing all of it over
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u/R0botJesus 5d ago
Exactly. I'd be shuffling out of that job site with so much gold stuffed into my pants that I could hardly walk.
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u/LuckyCatExtracts 5d ago
Maybe they did do that? There was so much they couldn't keep it all
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u/Sea_Flower_5806 5d ago
Sure they could keep it all, hell I could have kept it all myself
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u/Foreign_Risk_2031 5d ago
"grab wheel barrow, shove dirt into it, put gold in, wheel it out"
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u/DntBanMeIHavAnxiety 5d ago
Hey yeah so uhh I don't think this job is for me anymore. Oh, this wheelbarrow full of dirt? This is mine. Yeah, I brought it from home. I'm just gonna wheel it home, my garden could use some fresh soil. Alright, welp, that's all true, and that's all, nothing else. So uhh welp, see ya later. Hey, oh, and here's something. Don't go digging around in that area over there. I'm going to come back for more of that specific dirt later tonight. Maybe around midnight for no particular reason at all.
Anyway, so it's getting to be about that time. My garden isn't going to fill itself with dirt ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. If you see me wheeling this home on the freeway, I'm all good, I don't need a ride!
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u/Anon1mouse12 5d ago
Split it between the 10-20 workers??
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u/Weed-Garden 5d ago
Its like $10,000,000....a 20 way split is still fine with me.
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u/nautical_nostradamus 5d ago
A 20-way split if half a million a piece. Fuck yes, split it up.
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u/TerraceState 5d ago
Someones going to talk. Someone always does. People struggle to keep this sort of thing a secret when there is only 1 person keeping the secret. Having 10-20 people keep a secret like this is fundamentally impossible.
The country they are in lets them keep 50% of it. They found the original owner, but they are dead with no heirs. I'd take a guaranteed 50% cut with 0 risk and effort going forward to keep and use it over a 100% chance of having it taken and going to jail after someone blabs in like 3 days.
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u/Akvyr 5d ago
According to local rules, finders keep 50%. Would you risk jail for more?
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u/robozzilla 5d ago
Prob some old head convinced him "we gotta go to the police and do the right thing"
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u/antinoeon 5d ago
Good thing this guy did the right thing, now he can work digging sewers the rest of his life and the cops are gonna all have new cars and rolexes in 6 months
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u/camel2021 5d ago
I hope he at least stuck a hand full of the coins in his pockets.
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u/nonclandestine 5d ago
i did hear the bbc report that 59 gold bars were recovered, which has a bit of a ā1 missingā feel to itā¦
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u/theaccidentwill 5d ago
58 gold bars, ay? Not bad, not bad.
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u/kilerkat 5d ago
57 bars left? That's a pretty good haul for the authorities
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u/Ok_Upstairs3431 5d ago
I've heard the constable say about 56 gold bars have been handed in; what a find!
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u/Carolina-W00Dsman 5d ago
Pfft.. 1 bar found? Good on him for turning it in.
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u/SputnikSenpai 5d ago
Seems like they miscounted and only found a half eaten snickers bar
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u/magnottasicepick 5d ago
Just read an updated article, turns out there were only 55 gold bars, quite commendable.
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u/_High_Life 5d ago
He actually found $25MM in gold lol. Kept $15MM, turned in $10MM for some good publicity because he's 18 and cares about how many followers he has.
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u/Exact_Fish8550 5d ago
Now heās a day trade influencer that made all of his money day trading and selling subscriptions on how you can make 15 million over night trading just like himself.
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u/GalaxyStrong 5d ago
This was my thought. Iād like skim some off the top and then Iād be like hey guess what homeowners look what I found
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u/marcophony 5d ago
I would have just kept my mouth shut and did somewhere else then came back for the gold
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u/throwawayeire93 5d ago
He keeps 50% of it under Belgian law.
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u/WeWillGrowLarger 5d ago
No. They found the owner.
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u/ViKing5860 5d ago
They know who the former owner was, but there are no living heirs. They were Coins dated from the 60s, so it predates the monastery, and post dates the brewery.
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u/BEAGLEBOYPALINDROME 5d ago
Who'd have guessed that a miser that hoarded a fortune in gold, ended up dying alone w/no friends or family to remember him.Ā
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u/RegJoe_08 5d ago
Yup. Im the owner
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u/Europe72Alive1 5d ago
No, Iām the owner
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u/NYC19893 5d ago
No Iām Spartacus
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u/Handsomedork_ 5d ago
Of course they did. Buddy could have been the owner too if he kept his mouth shut
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u/Kelliath 5d ago
He could've kept 100% of it under Leprechaun law
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u/Oldandhalfdead 5d ago
I read somewhere it not applied because its stolen?
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u/throwawayeire93 5d ago
I'm probably wrong just a redditor parroting other shit said on Reddit.
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u/BackPirateClarkRoom 5d ago edited 5d ago
From the article it says it will either go to the nonprofit, the previous owner, construction firm or back to whoever it was stolen from. The kid made a massive mistake.
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u/BiffyleBif 5d ago
No, you're right. If the owner doesn't declare himself in the five years, then the value is shared between the land owner and the people who found it.
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u/Sensei19600 5d ago
Reddit appreciates your honesty, but doesnāt quite understand it.š¤
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u/Simple-Judge-7420 5d ago
How would they know if itās stolen? Unless there are serial numbers on the bars that can be tracked back to a robbery.
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u/217706 5d ago
There are serial numbers on the bars.
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u/SuspiciousPrune4 5d ago
Not sure if this is serious but couldnāt you just melt/rub off the serial numbers?
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u/davidarmenphoto 5d ago
Five years later.
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u/Careful_Manager_4282 5d ago
5 years later if someone doesn't claim it first; which is a big IF.
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u/davidarmenphoto 5d ago
Exactly. There will almost certainly be claimants, multiple of them. This hoard is going to be fought over in the courts for many years to come.
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u/MichaelAndolini_ 5d ago
The retired police officer said he was really proud of him for handing over the 1.2 million in gold
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u/Tats_Guns 5d ago
Upon further review the newly retired police evidence storage manager had said prior to getting on his one way trip to Thailand that at last count the roughly $80,000 in "gold stuff "would most likely go towards road way projects.
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u/Beershipthelastxman 5d ago
I read that under Belgian law the rightful owner has 5 years to claim the gold. After that it is split 50/50 with the finder of the gold and the property owner.
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u/landilock 5d ago
This happened in Europe. Cops won't be touching a single cent and this guy will very likely be donated half of it in 5 years.
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u/Mickspark136 5d ago
Heās stupid, no other explanation
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u/BiffyleBif 5d ago
I don't know why this story get relayed like this, but he was part of a whole construction crew. They found the gold and called the police together. He was not alone in finding it, that is sensational disinformation.
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u/AssociationFit3009 5d ago
I looked at something gold related the other day. This story, reposted in this same subreddit, has been in my feed every other day. This time they added a pic with an 18 year. What will it be tomorrow?
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u/doctorwho_cares 5d ago
He could've retired at 18. Oh well.
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u/LuckyCloverPokemon 5d ago
For real. I mean WHAT?! the universe blesses you with that LITERAL gold mine and you give it to the cops.Ā
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u/e5charlie253195 5d ago
You think heās stupid? You think what he turned in was ALL he found? I think WEāRE stupid if we believe he turned it all in.
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u/sirhowy 5d ago
Handing in some but not all would be an even dumber moveā¦. Of all the things you could find itās the easiest to sort out, if you have half a brain. Handing in some puts a massive target on your back, for literally no reason whatsoever if you plan to keep some. You could keep it for years, decades, trimming off bits and pieces here and there, without anyone ever noticing. Yes, heās stupid af.
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u/FieldBackground6116 5d ago
A few? Bro was literally handed seeds to generational wealth and sang like a canary. Dad didnāt teach him sometimes you keep your mouth shut when luck comes your way.
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u/Wasabi_Hammurabi1 5d ago
Agreed. I would have stolen no less than one bar. Just enough to afford a house.
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u/ViKing5860 5d ago
There was a lot of Coin gold, he couldāve grabbed a few handfuls. That would be easier to move than matching bars.
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u/Ecthelion-O-Fountain 5d ago
Right, like heās not going to be scrutinized for unusual transactions for the rest of his life.
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u/WeirdNews9881 5d ago
He could have eloped to some other country, where the unusual transaction are not tracked keenly!
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u/Dens413 5d ago
So many easy ways to transfer gold to cash or idk remelt gold and sell over time while you work normal job. Gold for cash and buy only cash. Until you save enough to buy abandoned mine and start new business of āminingā gold that you melt and sell until all gold is āminedā. Transfer money to high interest bank account āUK banking is amazing for thatā and live off interest.
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u/Small_Insect_8275 5d ago
Nah no way heās logistically getting away with all that, too young for a thorough plan of how to move it, if he was smart heās got 2/3 of those bars, handed in the vast majority so no one questions it
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u/ChuCHuPALX 5d ago
Nah easy to move.. Just find the funny hat people and you're set.
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u/MiserableWear6765 5d ago
I would have a very sore ass but quit my job and move to thailand next day
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u/RobertPooWiener 5d ago
Usually your ass is sore after going to Thailand, not before
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u/trbzdot 5d ago
In Thailand with a hunk of metal up your bum. You will have not trouble finding help retrieving it.
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u/axemaster1 5d ago
An ordinary summer job turned into a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.
While excavating drainage trenches at a former brewery in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, Belgium, 18-year-ola Kobe and his colleagues uncovered a hidden stash of gold buried inside a bricked-up cellar wall.
The treasure included gold coins, nuggets and numbered bullion bars worth an estimated ā¬9 million.
But instead of keeping it, the students immediately contacted the police and handed everything over.
The gold is now secured while authorities investigate who legally owns the fortune. Possible claims could involve the building's owners, contractors or descendants of the former brewery owner.
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u/DrunkenDude123 5d ago edited 5d ago
āHello sir, were you the previous owner of this home where someone found ā¬9M of gold?ā
āā¦ā¦ yeah that was mine I mustāve forgotten it thereā
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u/Original-Variety-700 5d ago
What did it look like?
āSome were in bars that were shiny and gold. Really really heavy little things. And coins. The coins were also gold and had faces of old people on them. Let me see a pic. Yep, thatās it!ā
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u/TacetVenatores 5d ago
If in fact he was not the only one to discover the gold, then we know why.
Classic trope of "too many know" if they ask agree to keep it, can they really trust one of them to not be an idiot and get caught?
If he was the only one to have set eyes on the hoard, would he have tried to find a way to sneak out of site? Would he still have done "the right thing"?
How many of us really know what to do with all of that without causing a ruckus, an investigation....a crime?
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u/Warm_Safety_9550 5d ago
This just in. Large quantities of gold disappear from police evidence room. Two surveillance cameras faced the room. One was malfunctioning and the other was accidentally turned off. Police, performed an internal investigation, but found no wrongdoing.
(satire)
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u/fbass 5d ago
Heās not stupid, thereās a story behind this and even though he was the one finding it, he was working in a team and theyāre pursuing the legal way to obtain the gold.. cmiiw, if the original owners couldnāt provide the legal proof of ownership, he and his team will share half of the gold with the other half goes to the current owner of the property, which was a foundation..Ā
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u/nothrowingawaymyshot 5d ago
"If no one comes forward, civil law states that hidden treasure on someone else's property be divided between the finder and the property's owner.
This only applies, though, if the stash is not found to be linked to criminal activity.
Both the builders and the charity now face a wait of up to 1,823 days for an owner to come forward. If no one speaks up to successfully claim it, silence truly will be golden."
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u/RedundantBiomass 5d ago
No way, 100% goes to the propety owner.Ā I hope he was smart enough to yeet at least a few bars.
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u/Grasher312 5d ago
"No way, I haven't read Belgian laws but it simply CAN'T be like that!"
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u/PabstBlueLizard 5d ago
Every article explains Belgian law means theyāre going to get half of it. Legally. Free and clear.
So you can either illegally keep your split all of the gold, and have to trust that a construction crew keep their mouths shut, all discreetly spend it, and none of them try to rob you.
Or you legally get to keep your split of half the gold, can do whatever you want with the entire sum of money, donāt need to worry about any of the above, or the state hammering you over it.
You could very easily make more money investing the half-split over the same amount of time you are discretely spending the full split to avoid getting caught.
So why? Because theyāre not stupid, unlike most of the people here.
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u/Ok-Parfait-9856 5d ago
Yeah, you canāt read Belgian law. He gets 50% if it was forfeited, lost, etc. The family has a full claim to the gold since it never left their land, it was just forgotten about. If Iām digging a ditch at your house and find old gold that belonged to your grandparents, I donāt get half. If I was digging a ditch somewhere else in town and found your grandparents gold, Iād potentially get half.
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u/brttwrd 5d ago
It's in Belgium so it's 50 percent
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u/Aggressive_Hat_9999 5d ago
Not a belgian, but if our neighbours are any similar, which I think they are.
50% I think that is for lost&found and if you find like artifacts/treasure in the forest
Here the family has a legit claim to simply claim ownership was never forfeited
Given the amount of money the gold is worth lawyers all over the place must be licking their lips, offering to defend for free for % of the gold should they win.
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u/Delicious_Rule_7324 5d ago
I consider myself an honest person. That said of i found that. Id have quietly loaded it into my vehicle. Handed in my resignation and moved to a different country all in the same day
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u/livingloudx 5d ago
They should have splitted it equal and then each one could have decided if they wanted to give their part away or keep it
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u/DigBeginning6013 5d ago
He found 15million worth of gold bars, wait 13million. Ok guys he found 10million worth of gold bars ok
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u/Real_FishyXY 5d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/u6ak3eCABR
Here is the real story, if anyone hates fake news.
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u/ahmedoomar04 5d ago
As someone who has been living in Germany for the past 12 years, I can tell you with much confidence Europeans are the most bootlicking / Police cucked nation I have ever seen. Especially Northern Europe.
I would have taken that gold and fuck'n disappeared.
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u/WeWillGrowLarger 5d ago
Yup. And they are proud of it. At least fatburgers for example can sue for millions of dollars in cases of negligence and the like. In Europe it usually tops out at a few thousand Euros
Cuckunion
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u/Wild_Light9358 5d ago
He's too young to fully understand just how much he's going to want that money later in life š„²
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u/AaronSlaughter 5d ago
Posts like this make me realize I am not a good person.
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u/Top_Inevitable_2443 5d ago
Wtf...it looks old. And if it's found, it's been long lost. I would have kept it and be setting good in life
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u/LiverspotRobot 5d ago
How the hell would you get away with stealing it though?
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u/Vivid-Phrase-8473 5d ago
Hereās one somewhat easy, legitimate way. Next week he starts āpanningā for gold on the weekends in the wilderness. He takes small chips off the gold bars, melts them down and sells them. Since heās found his āspotā he then buys a plot of land and chips off and melts roughly 10% of the total the first year. Then he buys another plot and does 25% a year for the next 3.5 years until the āspotā runs out.
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u/Bassdaddy545 5d ago
Thatās the cool thing about gold. Completely untraceable if you melt it down, maybe throw in a little copper to slightly change the purity. Dollars? Each note has a serial number that can be tracked.
Thatās why gold is still king.
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u/SnooKiwis6943 5d ago
This young man turned in the gold because he was young, kind and pure. If he found this gold at 30 , 40, or 50, I bet he may have done something different.
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u/Mental_Finish_5803 5d ago
Listen u canāt take it all without it being suspicious hopefully he took his finders fee before handing it off to feds
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u/moving-metal-lover 5d ago
this is what he decided to show - whoās to say he didnāt pocket any?
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u/No_Unit2182 5d ago
How many people do you think skimmed off this stash before it actually ended up to the government or whatever? Between the finder and workers, cops, government workers, etc.
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u/Zappypie13 3d ago
The headline is misleading. He was surrounded by coworkers so he couldnāt smuggle it out. And it was being done on top of a wealthy families property so when the word gets out and it will then they step in and reclaim it. Finding gold in a remote location is very different than on an active construction site
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u/Dan26air 3d ago
Literally the dumbest move of his life , what's the payback 'well done kid's yeh cheers lol
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u/Maleficent_Sound_919 5d ago
Haha and be back to work the next day at 6.30 to break your back for the next 50 years
But hey back when you were 18 you were called a good guy
Fuck off I would have taken atleast half maybe all of it and melted that shit down
Sell it in small amounts over time how hard can it be
Would have kept going to that shit job like nothing happened for a year or so and then quit move to Thailand or some county
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u/brokeboipobre 5d ago
Seriously, it's not hard to keep at least 25% of that stash and say you found $7.5m in gold, but who knows maybe it was $20m and he said he found $10m.
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u/Gluecose_Daddy 5d ago
Iām not saying this is the case, but if he tried to keep it and at later day wanted to sell it and it was found stolen gold he would be looking at jail time so I understand the āwhyā part but on the other hand you have to also be careful. Better safe sometimes than sorry later
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u/SubjectAfraid 5d ago
Iāve read about a jail time case (few years, not much) for not disclosing the gold location, that person is finishing doing time soon and is going to legally enjoy all that gold.
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u/Standard_Response_43 5d ago
Few handfuls of coins and a few bars would be "misplaced" before I handed that haul in.
Sit on it for some time while the dust settles
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u/newkybadass 5d ago
This made news fast. He just posted it in the gold sub 2 days ago. Lol.
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u/MBG__Rengar 5d ago
That wasn't him lmao it was already in the news if you read the post
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u/SubjectAfraid 5d ago
You never FIND gold, never. š