An accidental act of charity by a pair of Southland teenagers went awry after they allegedly left their bag of drugs and cash sitting outside an op-shop.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when store staff noticed a bag left outside the front doors on February 18.
When a staff member brought the bag inside, they noticed a pungent odour emanating from the bag — when they cracked it open, they found the source of the scent.
Police said there was a number of bags of cannabis, as well as a wad of cash inside.
Police were called as this was happening, and a pair of “highly agitated” 16-year-olds wandered in, asking for a bad they had “misplaced”.
They became increasingly more aggressive in their hunt for their bag; however, police were quick to the scene to de-escalate the situation.
They were detained under the Search and Surveillance Act by police.
Inside the bag were 43.2 grams of cannabis, scales, other ziplock bags and $3700 in cash.
As it happened, the pair had been getting their car serviced nearby when they left the bag outside the op-shop for safekeeping.
Police also searched the car they were getting serviced and found an air pistol, a police scanner and another $810 in cash.
The pair were arrested and taken to the local police station.
“The quick and calm actions of the shop’s staff allowed for a rapid response from police and a great outcome in recovering drugs, a weapon, a scanner, and a total of $4510 from illegal activity,” police said.
“Not a bad day at the shop.”
 – Allied Media