A German pensioner flushed bundles of old banknotes worth a small fortune down the toilet because he thought they were now worthless, police in the northern city of Kiel said Thursday.
The Reuters newswire said, he dumped some 60,000 deutschemarks -- which the euro replaced in 2002 -- into the bowl, unaware they could still be exchanged for about 30,000 euros (US$37,000).
Sewage workers recovered about half the sodden currency from the 64-year-old's plumbing. The remaining notes created a bottleneck in local sewers, where most were fished out.
Police said the man lived in "spartan" circumstances and had dried out the notes and taken them to a bank. It was unclear if he had laundered the money first.
