Scavengers strike gold in garbage pile

A married couple found 810,000 yuan ($133,919) worth of missing jewelry while sifting through garbage in Chang-chun, Jilin province, local media reported on Monday.

The recovered jewelry, made up of solid-gold rings and necklaces, is the most valuable missing property returned to its rightful owner in the city's history, said local police.

Zhou Jingxia and husband Liu Yuhua, both trash recyclers from Henan province, came across the two boxes containing solid-gold rings and necklaces while scavenging at a waste station on January 6.

The jewelry dealer surnamed Chen, who reported the missing gold to police, explained it had been overlooked while making a shipment from Changchun to Shenzhen, Guangdong province,

"I asked my husband what we should do with it, but he had no idea either. We didn't dare tell anyone," said Zhou.

The couple decided to scrap their trip home for the Spring Festival holidays to keep an eye on the gold, and lost sleep from lugging the three-kilogram load around, they said.

Liu expressed relief to local police after they tracked down the property.

"If we had kept it we would never have peace for the rest of our lives," Liu said.