Tradies get sack after turning in treasure

TWO honest tradies who dug up hundreds of thousands of dollars buried in a Queensland backyard were fired after taking it straight to police – without telling their bosses.

Now excavator operator Warren Bruggy and labourer Daniel Boyd are locked in a bitter tug of war over who should get to keep the loot.

The buried treasure of $388,850 in old paper notes and a further $100,000 in destroyed notes, was found buried in plastic tubs at a Gold Coast development site.

Mr Bruggy, 55, and Mr Boyd, 27, notified police immediately after making the puzzling find on October 31.

The two are staking their claim on the money using the little-known “finders keepers” laws. But it’s not a simple claim, with the construction company that owns the land, a Gold Coast man who claims his father – a travelling chef – buried it to avoid tax, two former owners of the land and possibly the tradies’ former boss all claiming their right.

The former boss of the two tradies, Shane Grimwood, allegedly told the land owner and developer, Scott Morrison, it was his, “due to finders keepers laws’’, according to a court affidavit.

“I’m not greedy … so we should just split it 50/50 and we could both be on a yacht eating oysters and drinking champagne’’, Mr Morrison claims Mr Grimwood told him.

Mr Morrison said he did not take him up on the offer and he has since filed a Supreme Court application to claim all the money.