Here’s an ethical issue and Jewish source response:

Case

Ralph Rosenfeld bought a red 1986 Camaro from a local police auction.  He bought the car “as is” and started having car trouble.  It stalled too often.  The car had been impounded from a drug dealer and was being sold off by the police.  Ralph took the car to his mechanic who did some work and found that $17,000 hidden in the fuel tank was messing up the engine’s gas flow.  The mechanic was a lawful guy and he called the police.  They confiscated the money as part of that which should be taken from the drug dealer’s ill-gotten gains.  Ralph is suing the police, arguing that the $17,000 was part of the “as is” condition of the car. 

What happens to the money?

Answer

[a] In the Talmud there is a case almost exactly like this one. (Jerusalem Talmud, B.M. 2.5)  The students of Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach buy him a donkey as a gift.  He is old and the donkey will help him earn a living.  They buy the donkey, the saddle, the blanket, and everything on it in a precise formula from an Arab merchant. Shimon finds a jewel on the animal as he is grooming it.  He demands that his students return it.  They insist that it is legally his.  He persists that it be returned.  When they bring it back, the Arab responds, “God bless the God of Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach.”

[b] The idea in this story is that while he could “legally” keep the jewel, it was not the right thing to do.  Likewise in our case, while “as is” means that he could insist on keeping the ill gotten drug money, doing so would not be “the right thing to do.”  This is a perfect case where law and right are not exactly the same.

Joel Grishaver, “You Be the Judge 3”, pgs.74-75  

Used with permission from Joel Grishaver