Police rummaged through a 1,000-square-metre dump for two hours last Wednesday until they retrieved 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) accidentally discarded by a resident's daughter, reports Beijing Morning Post.

At about 3 pm that day, Liu carefully wrapped up 100,000 yuan in cash, all of his savings, and hid it in a waste-paper basket near his bed. He considered that the safest place for his money, thinking thieves would never look there.

But later while his daughter was cleaning, she collected and bagged up all of the rubbish in the house and took it to a rubbish collection station near their home.

When Liu found out what had happened, he rushed out to retrieve the bag. But it was nearly 7 pm, and the garbage collectors had already come and gone. After receiving Liu's call for help, police launched a search at a large dump in Daxing County.

With flashlight in hand, braving putrid odours and hovering flies, the officers eventually found the cash.

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