Logging on to Facebook may not make it to the standard operating procedure in the police manual.
However, personnel at the Grand Bazaar police station hit upon this unique method of logging on to the social media platform to trace the owner of a wallet they recently found near the Ashram.
Using the name on the driving licence found in the wallet, they were able to get in touch with Michael C., a student of Edinburgh University, through Facebook.
They confirmed that the wallet belonged to him by cross-checking the photograph he had posted on the social networking site. After sending him a photocopy of his licence through a Facebook message, they asked him to collect the wallet from the station.
“I am touched by their gesture. They really took an effort to trace me,” said Michael, who is in Puducherry on a work project. The wallet was picked up by beat constables J. Arul and Bhaskaran.