So I pose this question to you...

[THL]

Cabbie Finds $350,000 in Diamonds in Cab, Returns Them to Passenger

Friday, November 18, 2005



LOS ANGELES — A pouch of diamonds left in a taxi could have gone a long way toward helping a Los Angeles cab driver achieve his dreams.

But he didn't keep the diamonds. He contacted the passenger who left them.

It turns out they belonged to a New York jeweler, and were worth 350-thousand dollars.

The cabbie, Haider Sediqi, discovered the pouch after dropping off a passenger at Los Angeles International Airport. When he opened it, he found about 100 diamonds, plus a cell phone bill.

He called the number and arranged to meet the owner at the airport police station to return the diamonds.

The cabbie is an Afghan immigrant with two children and a pregnant wife. He says he never considered keeping the gems — even though his wife loves diamonds and he dreams of opening a restaurant.

In his words, "God is up there. He always watches."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176015,00.html

So who would have kept the diamonds and sold them and who would have given them back....Be Honest!

[sparten]

An Afghan returning something. That has got to be a first. Now maybe if his contryman could folow suit and return my country (note those Afghan girls can stay) and go home. BTW, I am an Afghan from a couple of generations back so I can say that.

Seriously, I would return them. Those diamonds can usually be traced back and no doubt the dealer would place the police and probably Interpol on it. I believe stolen artworks forms a large part of Interpols brief.

[Samudra]

I would not think twice about returning the jewels. Honesty is the best policy. . . . atleast in a forum.

[The Chap]

Him? Return. How the hell to sell/fence them? If he doesn't have a green card then the publicity as the "honest John" type makes him a cause celebre for political ping-pong.

Me? Shut up. Then try and return them to the individual via any means that didn't require meeting folk that get into a cab driven by an Afgani and are really desperate to deliver the stones to folk that in turn make them lose lower bowel function etc.

Had you!

I'd keep the lot. Have them re-cut, register them ( having aquired a sample analysis of one to determine its region of origin - Sierra Leone doubtless) And then fly to Antwerp legally and pay full duty. Piss easy.

[Bluesman]

The day before my 8th birthday, I found money roll of $410 dollars in a garbage can. I found the guy that lost is there. I gave it back, and he gave me a $20 reward.

My dad, always on the lookout for a teaching opportunity, asked me if I wanted to invest it. Why not?

We bought a few shares of Kuhn Stores (K-Mart, Big K), and I learned how to read the stock pages. In a year, it went WAY up. Then split. Next year, more good performance. Year after that, another split.

On my 15th birthday, I sold it, and paid for my private pilot's license, and a whole summer of flying (supplemented by fueling airplanes, sweeping out hangars, and scraping bugs off windscreens ).

I always thought about that $20 bill as being greater than the big roll of money that I found in the trash.

[TopHatter]

The day before my 8th birthday, I found money roll of $410 dollars in a garbage can. I found the guy that lost is there. I gave it back, and he gave me a $20 reward.

My dad, always on the lookout for a teaching opportunity, asked me if I wanted to invest it. Why not?

We bought a few shares of Kuhn Stores (K-Mart, Big K), and I learned how to read the stock pages. In a year, it went WAY up. Then split. Next year, more good performance. Year after that, another split.

On my 15th birthday, I sold it, and paid for my private pilot's license, and a whole summer of flying (supplemented by fueling airplanes, sweeping out hangars, and scraping bugs off windscreens ).

I always thought about that $20 bill as being greater than the big roll of money that I found in the trash.

Had pretty much the same experience once. Don't recall the amount the guy gave me for finding his wallet, but it meant a lot more to me than whatever large amount of cash that was in the wallet.

I'd return the diamonds as well. Utterly no reason to keep them (other posters have said why) and every reason to locate the owner (other posters have said why, again).
I know I'd sleep better at night and be able to look at myself in the mirror.

[THL]

My honest answer:

It would be hard to return them. I would go over every scenario in my mind as to why I should and shouldn't.
Why should I?: The honest thing to do
Why Not?: He will write them off. He probably does not know where he lost them and has insurance to cover them. It is not as though it was a little old lady or some family heirloom.
In the end, my concious would get the better of me and I know I would return them. But only after I took a few hours to sit back and dream about what I could do with an extra 350 grand dropped in my hand.

[Ray]

An Afghan returning something. That has got to be a first. Now maybe if his contryman could folow suit and return my country (note those Afghan girls can stay) and go home. BTW, I am an Afghan from a couple of generations back so I can say that.

Sparten,

They might say they are the country since they are AFGHANistan (the land of the Afghan).

Then, would you give them the part of Afghanistan (meaning the land where Afghans reside and not the country this time) that is in Pakistan? ;)

[THL]

They might say they are the country since they are AFGHANistan (the land of the Afghan).

Then, would you give them the part of Afghanistan (meaning the land where Afghans reside and not the country this time) that is in Pakistan? ;)

I like the tri-colored Afghans myself. I would never want to deal with the hair so I would not want one, but I love to see them compete. They look so elegant when they prance. Like they are floating.

[Confed999]

If you can't be the good guy, there is no point in being. Return the diamonds...

[bonehead]

I'd return them. I have no desire to screw over someone else for a simple mistake. We ALL have misplaced or temporarily forgotten things. I'm not about to walk several miles to return a few pennies if I received too much change while buying something at a store, but $350,000 worth of diamonds is a big pile of sparkly rocks. The fact that the cabbie returned them proves there are decent people everywhere. Even in Los Angeles.

[Ray]

THL,

Don't ever think of stealing diamonds.

There are enough folk lores in India that diamonds have a voodoo!

Ask the Queen. Ever since she flinched the Koh-i-Noor and shoved it atop her Crown, the British Monarchy has gone downhill and now the British think that it (the Monarchy) is past its prime!

Because of the Koh -i- Noor, they are thinking of chucking out the hereditary Peers out of the House of Lords! So, even friends are visited by bad luck!

That's is why Ma Liz does not wear it anymore!

[sparten]

Because of the Koh -i- Noor, they are thinking of chucking out the hereditary Peers out of the House of Lords! So, even friends are visited by bad luck!

Already did.

Then, would you give them the part of Afghanistan (meaning the land where Afghans reside and not the country this time) that is in Pakistan?

Sir, three million refugees plus at least 4 million people who have settled here permently. Now many of them are an asset, my dentist for example. He and his pregnent wife came here in 79. Their son who was born here and is thus a citizen, is in the army, a major, an SJ from Kargil and currently serving in the Congo. They are Pakistani and consider themselves as such. And as for the son, how can we deny his loyalty, a guy who was wounded six times.

But others, well they are a bloody headache. They go around casuing problems, peddling drugs, prostitution and what not. There are millions of them. You want to be a citizen, well if you were born here you are, but otherwise either apply and go straight, or get lost....

[Leader]

I return them simply because you'd never get away with keeping them and you have to have some pretty shady contacts to unload that kind of thing. At least in the US.

[TopHatter]

I return them simply because you'd never get away with keeping them and you have to have some pretty shady contacts to unload that kind of thing. At least in the US.

Agreed. Decent morality and common sense tells us that a bag of rocks is nothing to trifle with.

Now...what if it was 350 grand in used Tens and Twenties?

(Bear in mind, you've probably just found somebody's "laundry". ;)