Hong Kong Cash Spill - On Christmas Eve, a busy Hong Kong highway turned chaotic as millions of dollars spilled out of an armored van. Drivers rushed out of their cars to grab hundreds of dollars while passers-by also tried to get their hands on the banknotes.
The Hong Kong cash spill transpired on Wednesday, Dec. 24 on a major highway near the city's financial district. BBC News reported the incident turned the already-busy multilane interstate into a complete picture of chaos and caused intense traffic as motorists and pedestrians scrambled for money.
According to the Hong Kong authorities, over HK$15.23 million or US$1.96 million has spilled onto the road. The police also added that it was still not clear how much they have managed to retrieve and how much the public had pocketed, as reported by Rappler.com.
"Anyone who picked up the cash concerned should hand it over to the police as soon as possible," district police officer Wan Siu-hong said on a statement. "Otherwise, they may have committed the crime of theft."
The cash spilled across a Hong Kong's multilane section of Gloucester Road in the Wan Chai area after three plastic crates of the crisp and new dollars spilled from the back of a security van, The New York Times reported. As people stepped out of their cars and walked onto the road to pick up the cash, traffic was brought to a complete halt.
Following the Hong Kong cash spill incident, G4S, a British security service company responsible for transporting the cash, told the South China Morning Post that it expected to be liable for the multimillion loss. The company also added that an internal investigation was underway. However, initial findings blames a van door malfunction.
"We are still having an internal investigation and we found that something went wrong with the door on the left side," G4S Hong Kong spokesperson Sheeta Leung Hui-kwan stated. "Our guards [conducted] the job according to the standard procedure but during the incident there were three guards in the van."
"Our guards reported the incident when they reached Cheung Sha Wan, our head office," the company's spokeswoman added.
The Hong Kong cash spill incident perhaps made many Chinese to believe that Christmas came early as millions of cash poured onto the busy motorway. However, the authorities warned to return the cash so they will not be charged of committing a very serious crime.
According to legal specialists, people who kept the money would be committing "larceny," a charge that could end up to 10 years imprisonment.
As authorities rushed to secure the scene where the Hong Kong cash spill happened, television footage showed people dashing in from the sidewalk to join in the Christmas Eve commotion.
