2 arrested after cash spill incident sparks scramble in California

LOS ANGELES - Two people were arrested after an armored truck on Friday dropped loads of cash onto a freeway in southern California, causing a major traffic jam as motorists dashed to scoop up the bills, local media reported.

A man and a woman were arrested on suspicion of taking money, and the pair's car has blocked the traffic after they got locked out of the vehicle, the KTLA reported, quoting an official from the California Highway Patrol (CHP).

The incident happened at around 9 am local time (1700 GMT) on Friday on the I-5 freeway near Carlsbad, 180 km south of Los Angeles. An armored truck heading to the Federal Reserve from a local bank dropped two bags of money after a door burst open.

An Instagram video posted by fitness influencer Demi Bagby, which has been shared over 1.8 million times as of Saturday, showed the cash is scattered across the lanes and people are jumping out of halted vehicles, snatching the dumped bills on the pavement.

"This is the most insane thing I've ever seen," Bagby said in the video, "someone dropped money all over the freeway."

The CHP warned anyone who took money to return it within 48 hours "in order to avoid a potential criminal charge," saying videos and photos posted on social media had captured people's faces and the license plate numbers of cars.

Investigation is underway, it added.