Christmas Eve ‘miracle’: Money rain in Hong Kong prompts sprint for ‘free’ cash

Published time: December 25, 2014 03:18   

 
 

Police arrest suspects in Kowloon. 
 Hong Kong commuters were splashed with thousands of dollars worth of cash in the city’s financial district on Christmas Eve, after a cash transport vehicle's faulty backdoor made it rain money on the road. Bystanders sprinted to the scene to pick it up.

Unsuspecting drivers and passersby had their share of Christmas magic, as an estimated sum of 35 million Hong Kong dollars (US$4.5 million) spilled on the highway on Wednesday afternoon, South China Morning Post reported. The security van transporting the cash contained a total of HK$525 million (over $67 million), according to police.

Media reports said the van had a faulty rear gate, which led to piles of money falling out.

Following the incident, motorists and others rushed to collect the free cash in the form of HK$500 notes, which are worth about $65 each.

Most of the cash was gone within minutes. “You couldn’t make it up,” a witness told the South China Morning Post. “There were 20 or 30 people picking up cash from the road on Christmas Eve. They looked like school kids who knew they were being naughty, but thought: ‘This is a once in a lifetime thing.’ Everyone had the same look on their face.”

One taxi driver stopped his cab and started loading it with as much cash as he could. Another woman was seen carrying a pile of cash the size of ten “bricks.”

“She looked like a very regular Hong Kong lady. She had an armful of bricks of cash – it was as much as she could carry,” the witness said.

Police were called to the scene at around 2 p.m. local time.

Authorities have issued a call to the public, asking that the money to be returned to police.

“I would like to take the opportunity to appeal to every member of the public that if they picked up any money to handover to any police officer or any police station as soon as possible. If he or she keeps the money for his own use, he may commit an offence of theft, which is a very serious crime under ordinance,” police superintendent Wan Siu-hong said on Wednesday.