Lost Luggage Returns After 24-Year Absence

A German who lost a suitcase full of clothes after a holiday in 1979 is to get it back 24 years after he first reported it missing, police said on Tuesday.

Officers found the brown and beige case lying outside a police station in the western city of Duesseldorf and identified its owner as a 61-year-old former hairdresser who lost it after a trip to Senegal in 1979. Where the case had been was unclear.

Duesseldorf police said the clothes were in good condition and did not seem to have been eaten by moths.

Police said the man was surprised and amused at the discovery but did not want the clothes back, fearing the disco-era garb would no longer suit him. But the man's wife persuaded her husband to take the case back.

"She was curious to see what was in there," said a police spokeswoman.