text: Builders find a stash of gold bars (not the ones in the photo) and decide to keep them, until the police found out. File photo: Franck Rumpenhorst/AFP 
   
   Published: 11 Aug 2014 08:54 GMT+02:00 
   
   Updated: 11 Aug 2014 08:54 GMT+02:00 
   
   It's perhaps every builder's dream or even nightmare. Three French workers find a secret booty worth almost one million euros whilst working on a house in Normandy. For them it was "finders keepers". But then the law caught up with them. 
   
   Three French workers are to appear before a court on charges of theft after they stole a treasure trove of gold bars and coins from a house they were working on, a local newspaper reported on Monday. 
   
   The men had been working on a house in Normandy for several days when they discovered the loot, estimated to be worth more than €900,000 ($1.2 million), hidden in jars. 
   
   According to the report in regional daily Paris Normandie, the jars contained six gold bars weighing a kilogramme (2.2 lbs) each, and 600 gold $20 coins from 1924 and 1927. 
   
   Rather than alert the owner of the house to their discovery, the workers, aged 20, 33 and 40, decided to steal the treasure and sell it to a coin collector in the area. 
   
   But tax officials were alerted when one of the men began depositing high-value cheques. 
   
   When investigators caught up with them, the men confessed to their crime, the newspaper said. 
   
   Police seized several vehicles, motorcycles and hundreds of thousands of euros from the workers as part of the investigation. 
   
   The three will appear at a court in Evreux, northwest of Paris, at an unspecified date. The coin collector will also appear before the court on charges of trying to conceal the theft, which he denies. 
   
   Interviewed by Paris Normandie, the owner of the house where the gold was found recounted telling the workers jokingly: "If you find any treasure, you tell me!" ||||| Image copyright Science Photo Library Image caption The buried loot is estimated to be worth 900,000 euros (£720,000) 
   
   Three French workers are to appear in court on charges of stealing gold worth 900,000 euros ($1.2m; £720,000) from a property they worked on, a local French newspaper reports. 
   
   They are said to have been levelling land at a house in Normandy for several days when they discovered the 16 gold bars and 600 US $20-gold coins. 
   
   The treasure, which was found in glass jars, may have been hidden on the property during World War Two. 
   
   A coin collector has also been charged. 
   
   Rather than alert the owners of the house to their discovery, the workers, aged 20, 33 and 40, decided to steal the gold and sell it to a local coin collector, it is alleged. 
   
   But tax officials were alerted when one of the workers deposited two high-value cheques in his bank account. 
   
   When investigators caught up with them, they confessed to their crime, according to the report in regional daily Paris Normandie (in French). 
   
   The three are soon to appear at court in Evreux, north-west of Paris. 
   
   The collector will also appear in court, charged with handling stolen goods, which he denies. 
   
   Each gold bar weighs a kilogramme (2.2lb), while the 600 gold coins, dating from 1924 to 1927, weigh 33g (1.2oz) each, the newspaper said. 
   
   According to local police, the three workers "had fun" with their new-found fortune, buying cars or motorcycles, but also investing in life insurance or in their homes. 
   
   The house owners, who wish to remain anonymous, live in a small village in the Eure department in north-western France and had asked for their details and that of the crime, which happened some time ago, not to be revealed. 
   
   "You know, nobody knows about this story, even my children do not know... Since the police called me to tell me what happened, I have found it hard to sleep," the owner is quoted as saying by the newspaper. 
   
   She is also reported as having told the workers jokingly as they started the work: "If you find any treasure, be sure to tell me!"
target: – A secret stash of gold coins and bars is the stuff of fantasies. And when three construction workers found $1.2 million worth on the job in Normandy, police say stealing it from the landowner proved too tempting to resist. Several days into their work leveling land, the laborers found 16 gold bars and 600 gold coins from the 1920s buried in glass jars, perhaps during World War II, the BBC reports. Police say the men—ages 20, 33, and 40—sold the loot to a local coin collector, then bought cars and motorcycles and invested the money in their homes or life insurance policies. But when one of the men deposited suspicious checks—one for $360,000 and the other for $40,000—into his bank account, tax officials perked up, Connexion reports. They contacted authorities, and the men reportedly 'fessed up. Their new toys have been seized, and they now face theft charges, while the coin collector is charged with trying to conceal the theft, reports the Local. The homeowner isn't saying much, telling local paper Paris Normandie: "Since the police called me to tell me what happened, I have found it hard to sleep." (Speaking of secret stashes, someone hid coins in a cave 2,000 years ago.)