Burger King Employee In California Finds Abandoned Bag With $100,000 Cash Inside


A Burger King employee is being hailed for her honesty after she turned in a bag containing $100,000 worth of $100 notes left inside the eatery. Sahista Bakawla, as the employee has been identified, works as an assistant manager at the Burger King outlet located on North Bascom Avenue in San Jose, reports ABC 7 News. She was the first person inside the Burger King eatery to take note of the blue backpack that was left there. According to Bakwala, she cleaned the tables in the outlet two or three times as multiple customers came in and went out without paying heed to the bag. It was after this that she decided to inquire further, reports Yahoo.

“I twice cleaned, like two or three times cleaned the tables and it’s still here. I waited until 3 p.m. and nobody came here,” Bakwala told ABC News.

Soon, Sahista decided to take the bag in and reported it to the owner of the store, Altaf Chaus. In the presence of Shahista, Altaf opened up the bag in order to check for any details regarding the owner. The intention was to check for a phone number or a personal ID that would have helped the find the owner and inform them about the bag being safe in their custody. Imagine their surprise when they found the bag half filled with crisp $100 bills!

Sahista Bakawla Burger King

“I open the zipper, I see lots of money, cash money, $100 bills stack up like half the bag, money,” Burger King owner Altaf Chaus said. “I said, ‘Wow! Today’s my birthday, this is my birthday gift.'”

Altaf was kidding. He immediately called up the police, who came in to investigate. They opened up the bag completely and found that apart from the cash, it also contained candy, a little bit of marijuana and a bank deposit slip. Officials are now taking the help of the bank to identify the owner of the bag.

Meanwhile, as the story of the honesty of the owner and the assistant manager at Burger King spread, several customers walked in to thank and congratulate them.

“I would have done the same thing but to know that someone else did it, really makes me feel good,” a customer, Mary Teixeira, said.

Meanwhile, Altaf Chaus explains why he chose not to take the cash, even though he could have if he wanted to.

“I’ve been in this country 26 years and I worked two jobs for 15 years before I bought this Burger King. So I’m a very hard working man. I don’t want that money, maybe it belongs to somebody.”

[Image via Patch/ABC News]

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