Dubai Police returned a lost bag containing $20,000 in cash and 150 grams of gold to a traveller at Dubai International Airport.
The passenger, an Arab traveller, was hours away from boarding a flight to Saudi Arabia when the bag went missing. The black bag also held various foreign currencies, multiple mobile phones, and official personal documents. An airport employee discovered it in an open area of Terminal 1.
The owner had not yet filed a lost property report when the bag was found. That prompted security staff to form a dedicated team to trace her identity and track her movements through the airport.
According to Colonel Abdullah Faisal Al Dosari, Director of the Terminal 1 Security Department, the operations room was notified and procedures were put in place to locate the owner. He said it turned out she was about to leave the country for Saudi Arabia. He added that she was extremely worried about losing her bag, unsure how to proceed, and afraid of missing her flight.
Officers tracked down the passenger inside the terminal shortly before her departure. They completed the standard legal procedures and verified her ownership permits and documentation before handing over the belongings.
Dubai Police Lost Property Recovery at Dubai Airport
The passenger thanked the airport security team before departing for Saudi Arabia. She said she had feared the loss would disrupt her travel plans.
The case is one of several recent recoveries handled by Dubai Police involving valuables at the airport and across the city. In a similar incident, officers traced and returned a lost handbag containing silver bars worth around Dh2 million at the airport. In another case, an Indian man found Dh100,000 in a Dubai parking lot and returned it to authorities.
Such recoveries reflect a wider pattern across the UAE. More than 8,700 people handed found cash to police across the country in 2025, returning valuables worth millions of dirhams. The figures point to the role of both airport security teams and members of the public in returning lost property to its rightful owners.
Dubai International Airport remains one of the busiest airports in the world, handling millions of passengers each year. Lost property cases are common given the volume of travellers passing through its terminals daily. Security teams at the airport follow set procedures to trace owners, verify documentation, and return items once legal checks are complete.
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