From the "feel good but wonder what the hell was going on" file

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/03/30/jewelry-found.html

Toronto couple keeps low profile after $1M purse lost and foundLast Updated Thu, 30 Mar 2006 12:49:46

CBC News

A Toronto couple has been inundated with calls from international media after a Good Samaritan brought back a bag they lost during a trip to California – containing $1 million in cash and jewelry.

The story made headlines around the world, including in the Daily Times in Pakistan, the Maldives Haveeru Daily and HappyNews.com, a website devoted to good news.

Shahla Ghannadian and her husband Saied Khalili were in California over the weekend to attend their daughter's wedding in San Francisco. They were strolling through Sausalito when they accidentally left a Louis Vuitton bag on a park bench.

The bag contained jewelry belonging to the bride and groom — including a 12-carat diamond ring, pearl and emerald jewelry and a Cartier watch — and $500 in cash.

The distraught couple only realized the mistake after they returned to their hotel room in San Francisco. They immediately called police.

They flew home the next day, believing what police told them – that they would likely never see the bag again.

Fortunately for them, John Suhrhoff, a 56-year-old man from San Rafael, had found the purse while out for a walk.

He took the bag to police, telling them it was filled with costume jewelry. The police then sent the bag on to Ghannadian.

Family members have stopped giving interviews on the incident, explaining that they're too exhausted after so much media attention.

But before the spotlight grew too overwhelming, Ghannadian's son Ali expressed gratitude to Suhrhoff.
"You have to be a real man to return that bag," he told a California newspaper.



It's nice that Mr. Suhrhoff turned the bag in, but if he knew it wasn't costume jewlery, would he have done the same? To add to that, what the heck were the Canadian couple doing with $1million in jewlery in a hand bag in a park? I know East Indian (making an assumption here) marraiges are huge affairs with lots of money and jewlery, but isn't that a bit much?