The sale of the company’s discarded barrels by the engineers

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A group of engineers at a company are discarding empty barrels in the desert with the company’s knowledge. Some Bedouins living near this location began taking these barrels to make use of them. The demand for these barrels increased until they offered to buy them from the engineers. The engineers actually bought them from them, taking the money without the company’s knowledge, on the basis that the barrels were originally being discarded. His question is: Is there a sin on these engineers for taking the price of these barrels? And what is obligatory for them regarding what they previously took?

Answer:
It is not permissible for the engineers to sell what they do not own. If the barrels become the property of the company, it is not permissible for the engineers to sell them. Whoever wants to buy them should buy them from the company. If the company is permitting them to be discarded, then whoever finds them may take them. If someone takes them and acquires ownership of them, it is permissible to buy them from him. Yes.