Two train employees have been rewarded for returning a wallet containing almost $30,000 cash to its rightful owner.
Fahd Elshorafa and Naresh Awal from Sydney Trains noticed an unattended bag at North Strathfield station on March 8, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The pair used their detective skills to track down the owner.
They were honoured for their efforts at the Sydney Trains customer service awards and received the ‘beyond brilliant’ award.
Two Sydney Train employees were honoured at the Sydney Trains customer service awards for returning almost $30,000 (pictured) to its rightful owner
Fahd Elshorafa (pictured) and Naresh Awal from Sydney Trains noticed the unattended bag at North Strathfield station on March 8
The mysterious bag contained a Chinese passport belonging to 34-year-old man and a receipt from an Auburn money exchange – which became key clues for their investigation.
The pair were ‘anxious’ about the discovery and decided to call the money exchange in a bid to alert the passenger about the loss.
‘We were thinking the customer must be really distressed, so I was really trying to figure out how to get it back to them,’ Mr Awal said.
The man was unaware he had lost his money but was thankful for the efforts of the Sydney Trains employees.
The man broke down at the station and continued to repeat ‘thank you’.
Mr Awal said the man offered to give the pair a reward for their findings which they kindly denied.
The mysterious bag contained a Chinese passport belonging to 34-year-old man and a receipt from an Auburn money exchange
‘He tried to give us some money as a reward but we said, ”That’s not what we need — we really needed to find you and we found you,” ‘ he told the Daily Telegraph.
‘I feel really satisfied. Still now I have that memory of his happy face, and that’s what we are here for.’
Mr Elshorafa and Mr Awal were commended for their ‘integrity’ and ‘honesty’ by Transport Minister Andrew Constance.
The man had exchanged the money to fund tuition costs in Australia.
The man was unaware he had lost his money but was thankful for the efforts of the Sydney Trains employees