Police officer picks up Rwf1.7m, returns it to owner

An honest police officer attached to the Kigali International Airport has done the force proud after he found a bag containing Euros 2, 225 (about Rwf1.7 million) and $53, and returned it safely to its delighted Ethiopian owner, on Saturday night.

Monday, February 27, 2012

An honest police officer attached to the Kigali International Airport has done the force proud after he found a bag containing Euros 2, 225 (about Rwf1.7 million) and $53, and returned it safely to its delighted Ethiopian owner, on Saturday night. Jerome Bisesetsa, 24, found the money and returned it safely to Samson Bakure who had misplaced it at the airport on arrival at about 1:45a.m.According to Asfaw Mesfin, the director of Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant, who picked up Bakure from the airport, his guest noticed that he had misplaced the bag containing the money as he tried to pay a deposit at the hotel (Umubano) where he was to stay."He told me that he had lost the bag containing the money and all his travel documents at the airport as he was paying for a visa. We drove back at about 2.20a.m and after I narrated the story to the duty officer, he told us they had picked up the bag. "I have always had trust in Rwandans and, the police in particular, for the years I have lived here, so much when my colleague told me that he had misplaced the bag at the airport, I was confident we would find it. I am proud of this country,” said Mesfin, who has lived in Rwanda for 17 years.Bisesetsa, who has worked at the airport for the last two years, said that he saw a bag abandoned at the Immigration wing."As I was seated next to the Immigartion (section), I saw the bag; when I checked it I found it contained money in different currencies and I reported it to my head since I did not know the owner."It was my responsibility to help the passenger in question; we are here to ensure the security of people and their property,” said Bisesetsa.He is the fifth officer to pick up money and other lost baggage at the airport and return it to its owner.