Syrian refugee returns €150,000 he found in donated wardrobe

Muhannad M says his Muslim faith prohibited him from keeping the money for himself

A Syrian refugee is being praised after he found €150,000 in a second-hand wardrobe and turned it in to German police.



Muhannad M, 24, reportedly discovered the stash after moving into his new flat Minden, north Rhine-Westphalia. According to the Independent, Muhannad had received donations from charities to furnish his flat, including the wardrobe. As he cleaned it, Muhannad found a hidden compartment which housed savings books worth €100,000 and €50,000 in cash.



"They were all new €500 notes. I thought it was fake money," he told German newspaper Bild. The 24-year-old then searched online to learn how to tell if the money was real and determined they were. Muhannad then informed migration authorities, who alerted the police.



Muhannad said his Muslim faith prohibited him from keeping the money. "I am a Muslim. I'm not allowed to keep this money. My religion forbids it. Allah would never allow me to finance my own interests with someone else's wealth," he said. Authorities are attempting to find the money's rightful owner.



"This young man has acted in an exemplary way and deserves great respect," a police spokesperson said. "It sometimes happens that smaller amounts of money are handed in. But this kind of money is the absolute exception."

Muhannad arrived in Germany in October 2015. The rest of his family are still in Syria, where a civil war has destroyed large parts of the country since it broke out in 2011. He will receive a finder’s fee of three per cent of the value of the money.

This article originally appeared on Independent.