Dubai: The quick thinking honesty of a watchman has been recognised after he traced the owner of a lost wallet from the phone number on a crumpled receipt on Wednesday.
Designer Arshad SM, 45, originally from Karachi, Pakistan, left work at about 8pm on Wednesday, and accidentally dropped his wallet as he was entering his car parked outside his office near Safa Park.
Luckily Hashim VK, 50, from Kerala, India, a watchman at the nearby Ministry of Social Affair’s Social Development Office, found the wallet and looked for the owner’s contact number.
Arshad had driven all the way back home to Sharjah before realising his mistake. To make matters worse he then left his phone at home and took his wife’s mobile, which had been disconnected due to an Emirates ID renewal issue and could only receive incoming calls. He then set off to report his lost wallet at the Smart Police Station in City Walk.
In the meantime, Hashim rang Arshad’s number, which was answered by his son in Sharjah. Arshad’s son then rang Arshad, who couldn’t then ring out to find where Hashim was until borrowing a kind passerby’s phone.
When Arshad met Hashim back near his office and was reunited with his wallet he offered Hashim all the cash inside, which was Dh350, by way of thanks. However, Hashim refused.
“I knew whoever had lost this wallet must be in a lot of stress so I tried to get it back to them in the quickest way possible to relieve their tension,” said Hashim.
“I know what it’s like myself when you lose something so I just wanted to help solve the issue, but I couldn’t go to the police station because I was at work so I just looked for a number. I didn’t do this for the money Mr. Arshad offered me, I did it because it’s what Islam teaches us.”
Arshad said: “Thank goodness for honest people like Hashim, I would have been really lost without his help, and I really thank him.”
Hashim’s supervisor, Mousa Al Aswad, said she wasn’t surprised by Hashim’s actions. “He always does this, he’s a very honest guy, and whenever we leave something at work, we know he will look after it for us.”
