A bag containing £70,000 worth of foreign currency reported stolen by a coach passenger has been found in lost property at Heathrow, police said.

The cash went missing on Tuesday after an 81-year-old man believed he had loaded his black bag in the hold of a coach at the airport.

When the National Express coach arrived in Portsmouth about three hours later, he discovered the bag was not on board.

Police said CCTV footage revealed the man did not put the bag on the coach.

PC Howard Day, based at Heathrow Airport, said: “It is not every day someone leaves behind a bag containing such a large quantity of cash at the airport.

“Thankfully we were able to trace it and will get it back to the victim who was relieved to hear it had been found.”

The man had brought the money, made up of Australian dollars and Thai baht, over from his home in Thailand to buy a property in the UK.

Police said they were making arrangements to reunite the owner with the cash.

BBC