Moving house is never fun, especially when you reach the dreaded bond clean stage — unless, that is, you stumble across a stash of diamonds in the process.

The thorough cleaning practices of a Cairns renter have uncovered a haul of diamonds that police believe may have been hidden for more than a decade.

“We believe that at some point from about the year 2000 that somebody left this little stash secreted inside the unit,” Senior Constable Russel Parker said.

“It was only found because [the property] was undergoing such a thorough clean.”

Senior Constable Parker said police were trying to reunite the diamonds with their rightful owner, but were remaining tight-lipped about the exact details of the find.

He would not divulge how many diamonds were found, how big they are, or how much they are worth.

“We’re not going to describe the stones or anything like that but anyone who’s left diamonds behind in a residence, I’d suggest, would remember,” he said.

“We’ve made enquiries with jewellers and so on to see if there’s any way of tracing the owners and there doesn’t appear to be.

“These are quality diamonds and certainly they represent quite a deal of money.”

Authorities are unsure whether the stones were legitimately owned and innocently stashed, or if something more nefarious is at play.

“It could be that they were the proceeds of a crime, but with the identifying documentation [the stones were found with], they haven’t been reported stolen,” Senior Constable Parker said.

He said regardless of the origin of the stones, the “impeccable honesty” of the person who found them deserved praise, and potentially something more.

“The first thing the tenant did was to realise that ‘Well look, I don’t own these things’, so they came down to the police station and handed them in.

“And there is a very, very good chance that the tenant will end up with these stones again if we can’t find the rightful owner of them.”

-ABC