A Christmas surprise ended in arrest for a Hong Kong beautician and businessman who collected thousands of dollars spilled on the street by careless bank security guards, but were tracked down by police who found the stash under their bed.

The pair were taking a taxi along the city’s central Gloucester Road when boxes of HK$500 notes – each worth about £40 – fell out of a security van with a faulty door.

They stopped the car and began scooping up cash along with dozens of other delighted passersby, the South China Morning Post reported. People had grabbed up to $HK15m (£1.24m) in cash by the time armed police arrived to seal off the road.

“At first people did nothing, then one person went into the road,” one witness who worked at a nearby office building told the paper.

“You couldn’t make it up. There were 20 or 30 people picking up cash from the road on Christmas Eve. They looked like school kids who knew they were being naughty, but thought ‘this is a once in a lifetime thing’. Everyone had the same look on their face.”

The guards, from firm G4S, didn’t notice their loss until they reached base around 14km (8 miles) away. The money belonged to the Bank of China.

General Mackevili wrote:What ever happened to finders keepers?