Nick Mead is an exception to the basic rules of human nature. His honesty and integrity are second to none. When finding gold bars hidden inside the fuel of an old military T54 tank, he decides to report it to the police. He basically finds a life-changing amount of gold and hands it over without thinking twice about it.
He probably did think twice about handing it over to the authorities. He did get a receipt from them stating that the bars were solid gold and how much they weighed in total. The police will investigate the bars and try to find their origins.
Once the origins are found, it will be possible for the police to track down the rightful owners of the gold. That person or country may not even know that they had hidden some away for safekeeping. During wartime, governments commonly hide guns and valuables inside every compartment available.
In this case, someone molded melted gold into bricks and slid them into the fuel tank of the T54. It may be an illegally gained fortune, which means the original owner will never step up to claim it. Of course, if it was made unlawfully, Mead would never see the money from them because the police would hold them as evidence. Evidence of a crime long past.
On the other hand, if the police find no leads and no one steps up to claim them (with proof, of course), Nick Mead will be granted them back to do what he pleases with them. After all, he purchased the tank from a seller on eBay, so Mead is the rightful owner if the gold bullion is untraceable or legal.
It simply blows society away when someone such as Mead shows that there are honest people in the world. Doing the "right thing" may have lost him a fortune in this case, but he can still sleep at night. And if all goes well, he will see the bars again, and from there, the sky will be the limit for Nick Mead and his partners.
