Money found strewn around campground
Police are holding on to almost $7000 cash found scattered around a West Coast campground last weekend.
Campers woke up on Saturday morning to find $6800 in $100 and $50 notes tucked behind windscreens and in the toilets of the Gentle Annie campground at Mokihinui, north of Westport.
Owner Jesse Paley-Atkins said he handed the money over to police in case it had been stolen.
He took the names and amounts people received and said he would return it to them if police gave their blessing.
‘‘It’s a very bizarre situation. Forty occupants had money put on their windscreens.
‘‘The first lot of money was found about 3am. It was spread over a very big area so it would have taken them about an hour to put it everywhere and went undetected by other campers.’’
Sergeant Malcolm Lamont said the money was being held at the Westport police station.
‘‘We are treating it as found property so we will hold it for the regulatory three months period.’’
The person who left the money around the campground had not been identified, he said.
‘‘We don’t know who or where it came from. We are making some inquiries with banks to see if a substantial amount of money was withdrawn – nothing so far.’’
Sergeant Paul Watson said the campground owner did the right thing by giving the money to police to ensure it was not stolen.
There had been no reports of similar incidents happening since, he said.