Norwegian man finds $16,000 in old safe at recycling plant

It's the stuff of dreams. John Erik Tvietdal, 22, works at a recycling facility in Norway as an excavator operator.  A locked safe was dumped at the site and just for fun at the end of his shift, Tveitdal decided to open it.  What he found was amazing.

He joked to his colleague, "Suppose there is a million in there," never dreaming there would be any money in a safe someone had thrown away.

He placed the safe on the ground and beat down on it with the arm of his excavator. When he eventually managed to rip off the front door of the safe he got a huge surprise. Inside were six bags full of cash.

"I felt I was in heaven and I thought I must be dreaming," he told the local media. "I stood there with 117,000 kroner [around $16,000] in my hand and thought that right there I had a holiday in the tropics and a hot tub for the wife and me, but instead I ran straight to the boss and gave him the money."

Rather unfortunately for Tveitdal, his company Norsk Gjenvinning Group, traced the owner of the safe and gave them back the money.    It can only be hoped that they gave the poor guy a decent reward for his efforts.

Incidentally the company was asked what would have happened if Tveitdal didn't open the safe.  Apparently it would have gone through a major fragmentation mill which would have divided it up into pieces, completely destroying all that lovely loot.

Meanwhile Tveitdal told VG that it is rare to see a safe at the recycling plant, but he will always open them in the future, just in case.

Norwegian source
The Local