If you found a bag full of money on the street would you hand it into the police station knowing somebody may have lost it, or would you keep it?

Well that thought must have crossed the minds of a homeless couple, who gave police a bag containing about 20,000 reais ($10,000 USD) that they found abandoned on a street in Brazil's largest city, local authorities have said.

The couple, who have been living together for about four months under a bridge in eastern Sao Paulo, approached a security guard in the early hours on Sunday and asked him to call the police to report the find. They said that they were sleeping when they were awoken by an alarm from a nearby shop. The couple looked out to see what was happening, when they saw the bag with the money lying near a bus stop. A police investigation found that inside the bag, along with the money, were checks and receipts that enabled them to determine that it was money stolen last week from a Japanese restaurant.

Rejaniel Silva Santos, 36, said that the first thing he thought about when he saw all the money in the bag was to call the police. The couple said they support themselves by selling recyclable trash. Rejaniel, who earns about 15 reais ($7.50) per day, said that the only thing he wants is for his mother to see him on television as she lives in the northern state of Maranhao,

"My mother taught me that I must not steal and to tell the police if I see anyone doing anything (illegal). If she sees me on TV there in Maranhao she'll know that her son is still one of the honest people in the world," he said.

Rejaniel said that he came to Sao Paulo to work in civil construction and decided to live on the street after losing his job and separating from his then-wife. 16 years after leaving Maranhao, he has found himself on the streets but he met his current partner, Sandra Reina Domingues, with whom he has been living on the streets for about four months.