Leprechaun scenario gone wrong: metro workers and their pot of gold
Published 04 July, 2008, 10:03
Last Thursday, while building a new metro line in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, workers found a pot with gold coins dating back to the reign of Nicholas II, the last Russian Tsar. Russian daily Novye Izvestia newspaper says the pot allegedly contained a thousand coins and weighed about 8.5 kilos.
The ‘lucky’ metro builders immediately quit work and returned to Moscow by rail.
However, their co-workers told the local media about the incident and the story has caught the eye of police. They’re investigating the case and say the results will be known early next week.
If the theft of the gold is confirmed, the workers who misappropriated it could face criminal charges, as under the law of the Russian Federation, those who find treasure may claim only 25 per cent of its value.
The state gets 50 per cent, and the remaining 25 per cent goes to the owner of the land where the treasure was found.
Meanwhile, local historians do not doubt that metro builders were able to find the coins.
They say the area in question is in immediate proximity to the Nizhny Novgorod fair, where a lot of merchant shops and guest houses were once located.
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