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During World War II, the Japanese military regularly plundered Asia to amass additional wealth to finance the war.
Soldiers looted houses, banks, and temples in search of any precious items.
In 1944, Vice Admiral Takehita was transporting booty from Singapore to the Philippines.
The Americans invaded the Philippines, leaving much of the treasure ‘trapped’ on land as the Japanese had to flee quickly and save their lives.
All those who remained and helped to bury the treasure were killed.
This is also part of the story that tells us that Yamashita's treasure may still be just a legend - because, why would the Japanese transport treasure to the Philippines when they already knew that the Americans were preparing a major attack?
There may be truths in the whole story.
A Filipino soldier found a cave filled with chests with gold bars and jewels.
He took several levers along with a golden Buddha statue and was arrested shortly afterwards. Before the trial was over, the soldier was found dead.
While some claim that the Filipinos have found the treasure and still keep it a secret, others are still skeptics and claim that it does not exist at all - others are still looking for it and estimate its value at 100 trillion US dollars.
