Fools gold? $190K in gold bars unclaimed from Swiss train

GENEVA – If you happened to leave more than $190,000 worth of gold bars in a Swiss train, you can now come forward to claim it.

Authorities in the central city of Lucerne say a package containing bars worth some 182,000 Swiss francs was found in a train that arrived from the northern town of St. Gallen in October, and efforts to find the owner failed.

The bars were then seized by Lucerne prosecutors. Regional authorities confirmed Tuesday a statement from law enforcement over the weekend saying any claimant has five years to report “justified claims” of ownership.

The incident is eye-popping even for a wealthy Alpine country with a high cost, and standard, of living.

In a similar incident three years ago, authorities in Geneva turned up wads of cut-up 500-euro notes (about $600 at the time) that were mysteriously jammed into the toilets of three restaurants and a bank in separate episodes. The shredded notes were once worth tens of thousands of euros in total.