Nicholas has lived for several years in an apartment located in the center of the Colombian city of Medellin. At one point, he smelled a musty smell appearing near the wall and decided that there was a pipe leak somewhere inside. He decided to dismantle the masonry and, to his surprise, he discovered a hidden room that had been built here many years ago.
Nicolas knew his past. His surname is Escobar and he is the nephew of the world famous Colombian. He inherited the apartment, but even he couldn’t imagine his past.
Escobar in 1993 was considered one of the richest people in the world, his fortune was estimated at 59 billion dollars. There are still caches of money packed in bags – the underworld king of Colombia very often hid bags of money underground or in walls.
Sure, I knew my uncle’s hiding places, but I never thought I’d find one myself. The smell drew me to the wall, and when I dismantled the masonry it became clear where it came from,” Nicholas told reporters.
Usually, the money was hidden in buckets, previously wrapped tightly in plastic film. Here, the packaging was not as complete, so time has taken its toll. The wet paper began to emit a characteristic smell, like wet wallpaper – which is why Nicholas decided there was a leak in the wall.
Behind the masonry were a typewriter, several satellite phones and wads of bills – nearly twenty million dollars. True, a significant part of banknotes decomposes from time to time.