The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will receive 120 gold bars found on a train in Switzerland four years ago. The bar owners never claimed them, according to local authorities.
In October 2019, a rail controller found a missing plastic bag on a train traveling between St. Gallen and Lucerne. In the bag was a white package with the message: “Sending valuables to the ICRC.”
The package, in turn, contained the aforementioned 120 gold bars, with a total weight of 3.7 kg. Taking into account the current exchange rate, the donation to the Red Cross is valued at US$226,000 or €209,000.
Swiss police carried out a lengthy investigation but were unable to identify the owner of the gold or find evidence of criminal activity.
“Since the gold was in a package addressed to the ICRC, we can assume that the unknown owner wanted to hand it over to that organization,” the Swiss prosecutor’s office said.
The Red Cross thanked the “generous donation”, at a time when it is going through a delicate financial situation due to inflation and the drop in donations, due to the efforts dedicated by this entity to Ukraine.
The ICRC recalled, however, that it prefers to receive donations through traditional channels than a package abandoned on a train.
Source: TSF
