Police [123rf]
Police [123rf]

Police are investigating after cash and gift vouchers worth about 420,000 won ($276) disappeared from a lost wallet turned in to a police station.

According to the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency on Friday, a citizen reported finding a wallet to the Eoeun Community Safety Center under Yuseong Police Station on March 27. The wallet contained cash and department store gift vouchers totaling about 420,000 won ($276).

Officers processed the found property and notified the wallet's owner, a person in their 30s identified only as A, who had already filed a separate lost-property report with police.

When A went to Yuseong Police Station to retrieve the wallet, the cash and gift vouchers were gone. Unable to get a satisfactory explanation from the officers involved, A filed a theft complaint against them.

The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency assigned the case to Daejeon Jungbu Police Station. Investigators are focusing on the fact that the valuables disappeared while in police custody and are looking into possible embezzlement, leaving open the possibility of an inside job.

"If wrongdoing is confirmed, we will pursue both criminal punishment and disciplinary proceedings," a police official said.


bbo@heraldcorp.com