Return to sender: Police reunite mystery stamp collection with owner

Abbotsford police weren't mailing it in when they solved the mystery of the missing stamp collection.

Officers were able to track down the owners of a stamp collection found in a bush in central Abbotsford, according to a statement.

"It is a huge collection," said Sgt. Judy Bird with Abbotsford Police Department.

"There are tens of thousands of stamps that have been so carefully put together in bags ... and labelled."

Bird said it looked like the collection took years to put together.

It turns out the stamps were stolen from a chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star Masonic Temple during a meeting on May 16, police said.

The stamps were donated to the temple so they could be sold off to buy materials to make dressings for cancer patients. The women of the Masonic Temple make and donate bandages to the B.C. Cancer Society every month.

"We extend out thanks to the community for spreading the word about these stolen stamps," police said in the statement. "We are so pleased to be able to return the collection to this worthwhile cause."