An honest passerby has handed a briefcase containing 22 gold bars and €3,500 in cash to Berlin police after finding it under a tree.

The treasure trove was found near a bank in the Neukölln district.

‘Amazing what you can find under a tree in Neukölln,’ police wrote on Twitter, reports the Telegraph.

The citizen who found the briefcase brought it to the police station immediately, where it was reunited with its fortunate owner.

Police were able to quickly track down the identity of the owner by analysing the other personal items in the briefcase.

‘The owner has been found. He said he put his things down while locking up his bicycle and then simply forgot about them,’ Berlin police said on Friday.

Under German law, people who find lost items are entitled to 3-5 per cent of their worth.

The 22 gold bars — weighing a kilogram — are worth about €30,000 at the current gold price, meaning the finder could be almost €2,000 richer.

Berlin authorities said they would also charge a ‘storage fee’ of ten per cent.