Sounds like an Aryan

Jobless German hands in cash, gold

An unemployed construction worker found a package filled with 16,000 euros ($NZ34,284) in cash and items of gold jewellery beside a busy German road - and turned it over to authorities.

The 56-year-old father of a disabled son, whose family relies on state unemployment benefits of about 600 euros per month, spotted the large brown envelope while cycling along a road near Ermstedt in the eastern state of Thuringia, a police spokesman said.

"The money would have been like a gift from heaven for me," the finder, Thomas Liedtke, was quoted as saying in the Bild newspaper.

"It would have come in handy for the heating bill. But my conscience got the better of me. It was a hard decision to go to the police."

The origins of the money were not known, the police spokesman added.

He said no one had reported missing the wad of rolled-up 500 euro notes and jewellery, which included a ring, medallion, necklaces and earrings.