Pakistani Custodian Returns $50,000 Found in Hotel Room!!!

Pakistan is celebrating a custodian who returned $50,000 he found in a hotel room.

Essa Khan, 51, has worked at the four-star Gilgit Serena Hotel, at the foot of the Karakorum Mountains in northern Pakistan, for 20 years. He routinely inspects recently vacated rooms. During a recent room examination, he found $50,000 worth of $100 bills inside a bag in the room's safe deposit box. The amount is more than 17 times what the father of five makes in a year.

"I have a responsibility as a human being, as a Pakistani, a Muslim," Kahn told the Daily Telegraph, Sunday. "I never thought about keeping the money."
Hotel staff spent three days tracking down the owner, an employee of the Japan International Cooperation Agency. According to the Telegraph, the Japanese man hadn't realized the large sum was missing.

The JICA, which promotes social and economic growth in developing countries, is using the money to fund a feasibility study into tourism in northern Pakistan. The tourism industry, like the country, has suffered in the wake of terrorism and political corruption.

The hotel rewarded Khan with 10,000 rupees ($164). The Punjabi governor, Salman Taseer, called Khan a "national hero" and has invited him to Lahore for a ceremony recognizing his good deed. As reported by the BBC, Khan hopes his story will help shed some positive light on his country.

"I want people around the world to know that there are many good people in Pakistan -- everybody is not a terrorist here."

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