A man in Russia's Far East has been handed a prison sentence for illegally hoarding more than a dozen pieces of gold that he found in a pair of socks by the side of the road.
The man, a resident of the Amur region, said he found 18 ingots of gold wrapped in three black socks and hidden in a bush in the town of Zei, the Interfax news agency cited regional prosecutors as saying Wednesday.
The gold, which was shaped in half-spheres, weighed about 8 kilograms and was valued at about 10.5 million rubles ($171,000), the report said.
Rather than report his discovery last October, the man instead stashed the treasure under his car seat, where it remained until police officers tracked it down.
A court on Wednesday sentenced the man to a two-year prison sentence for illegal possession of the precious metal, Interfax reported, adding that the gold has since been paid into the state coffers.
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