Dubai Lost & Found has earned more than $ 1 million by auctioning items that the owners never came for.
Dubai Police Lost & Found earned AED 3.86 million ($ 1.050 million), selling thousands of items last November for which the owners never returned.
Among the items put up for auction were a Vertu mobile phone worth 60 thousand dirhams ($ 16.3 thousand), a jet ski, a kayak and an electric generator.
"All Dubai police stations take lost and abandoned items and store them for about a month so that the owners can pick them up. If no one applies for such items, they go to the lost property office at the Dubai Police Headquarters," said Colonel Rashid Bin Safwan, Deputy Director of the relevant department.
All things are stored in a warehouse, and the lost property office checks whether criminal cases are connected with these or those items. The Department is governed by Law No. 5 of 2015, which was passed by decree of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai. The law states that anyone who finds lost and abandoned property, including money, must transfer it to the police within 48 hours, on the basis of which the police draw up a report. Failure to comply with this law entails criminal liability.
Lt. Col. Bin Safwan said that most of the lost items are handed over to police stations by hotels, shopping centers and residents. He added that unclaimed items are sold at auction, and the proceeds go to the state treasury.
Among the items put up for auction in November 2017, there were 14.6 thousand mobile phones, 1679 tablets, 639 laptops, 1217 cameras and 11 thousand hours.
"If the person who has lost the item has already left the country, we will send the item to him by mail after checking his identity," he added.
