KIGALI - A police constable, Willy Bizimana, yesterday evening picked US$19,700 at the airport parking lot, and returned the full amount to the owner - a Tanzanian traveler.
 
This is the second time a police officer stationed at the airport has picked money and returned it to the owner.
 
 "I checked out of the airport with the money, then I left my luggage with a friend since I wanted to use the washroom. When I returned, I just entered the car and we proceeded to my friend’s house,” Rajab Furaj Juma said as he narrated how he lost the money.
 
He added that he realized that he had lost the money after reaching his friend’s house and drove back to the airport to try his luck.
 
"I honestly didn’t expect to get the money but I went back to try my luck,” he said.

"When I told the receptionist at the airport that I had lost money, she smiled, which gave me hope. She sent me to the police desk where I was cross-examined before being given the money.”
 
"This is truly unbelievable. It doesn’t happen like this where I come from and in  the countries I have visited. The Rwandan police is admirable, trustworthy, honest and friendly to the people. Rwanda has a lot to teach the world out there”.
 
Juma said he was in the country on a business trip and was planning on opening a bank account, the next day to facilitate his business transactions.
 
Speaking to The New Times, police constable, Bizimana, who picked the money, said that he was doing his routine patrol when he discovered a travel pack containing the dollars.
 
"As someone charged with security, I had to open the pack, that is when I realized there were dollars and I immediately notified my superiors,” Bizimana said.
 
Police Spokesman, Theos Badege, said that Bizimana expressed an extreme act of honesty and called on all police officer to emulate him.
 
Early this month, Corporal Frank Bizimungu, also attached to the airport, picked $40,000 belonging to British national and handed it over to the owner.

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