| shenmecar | 09-01-2009 01:22 PM |
$20,000 lost -- and found -- at YVR
http://www.theprovince.com/Lucky+bre...819/story.html Quote:
Leon Lu made a very expensive mistake Saturday afternoon — a $20,000 mistake.
Luckily, a stranger’s random act of kindness saved the day.
Nineteen-year-old Lu landed at Vancouver International Airport on Saturday at about 2 p.m. after a 24-hour trip back from China, where he spent time with his parents.
Lu has been studying in Canada for six years.
The trip was his last visit home before starting his first year at the University of B.C. this fall.
“I was really, really tired. I don’t know what I was doing. I just wanted to get home,” he said.
Lu was so tired, in fact, that he left behind the yellow, orange and grey Wilson-brand backpack in the airport’s baggage-claim area.
In the backpack, which he had carried on the plane with him, were Lu’s identification cards, passport and $20,000 in cash, which his parents had given him to help pay for his housing.
Carrying that much cash, a large sum by Canadian standards, is not that unusual for Lu at the start of a new school year.
His parents gave him cash because it is an easier exchange for the Chinese banks, he said.
Lu didn’t realize he had put the precious pack down and failed to pick it back up until he arrived at his Coquitlam home.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God!’” he said. “I freaked out. I was like, ‘How am I going to live here?’” Lu headed straight back to the airport.
He didn’t even have time to make a panicked call to his parents.
He was ushered into the airport’s security area, where he was informed that his backpack had been recovered and returned by a benevolent — and nameless — stranger.
“I was so happy. That money is for my school and living costs,” said Lu, who plans to study bioscience.
The stranger did not open the backpack and had no idea of its valuable contents, security told Lu.
Security returned Lu’s identification cards and passport, but told him that the money had already been turned over to the Richmond RCMP for safekeeping.
Lost articles are typically handled by YVR’s lost-and-found department.
In special cases, such as this one, the file is referred local RCMP forces.
Lu initially spoke with The Province on Monday, just before heading out to pick up his money at the Richmond RCMP’s main detachment.
When he arrived at the detachment, an RCMP officer counted the cash — 200 crisp $100 bills — for Lu.
Not a single dollar was missing.
He has since been able to share his dramatic tale with his father, who invests in retail developments in China.
Lu might hold off on telling his mother though, he said with a little laugh.
“She probably knows now, but you know, she’s my mom. I know how she’ll react,” he said.
And while Lu has had time to touch base with his parents, as of Monday afternoon, he still had not gone to the bank to deposit his money.
“No, not yet, but I’m going today,” he said.
Lu said his father plans on writing a thank-you letter to the RCMP and wants to send them a gift — even though they cannot accept it.
Lu still doesn’t know the identity of the kind stranger, but said he wishes he could thank that person face-to-face.
“I want to say thanks from the deepest part of my heart. He probably saved my career. I wouldn’t be able to go to school without his help.”
| The stranger is probably shooting himself point blank in the face with a rifle right about now for not pocketing that huge amount. |
