A COUPLE got lucky when they pulled a safe from a lake with $100,000 locked inside.
James Kane and Barbie Agostini found the safe while magnet fishing in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York.
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The couple said they started this unique hobby while bored during the pandemic and call it “a poor man’s treasure hunt.”
Magnet fishing involves throwing a high-powered magnet, such as a neodymium magnet attached to a string, into a body of water and seeing what sticks to the ground.
On Friday, the couple was fishing as usual and caught a small black safe.
They managed to open it and found bundles of money inside, with an estimated value of around US$100,000, according to NY1.
‘I thought it was a joke’
When the couple realized they were opening a safe, Kane said they didn’t think much about it because, “We’ve found a lot of safes before, that’s exactly what a magnet fisherman does: you find safes.”
He opened it expecting to see transparent bags where the money would be placed, but he looked closer and noticed a detail.
“Then I saw the numbers,” he told the outlet, remembering when he saw the accounts.
“And I said, ‘Honey, that’s not possible.'”
In the safe were two “large stacks” of $100 bills.
“I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke. I thought [it would be] the bags too and he was just joking”, said Agostini.
Only after seeing the bills themselves and the bank security tape around the money labeled “$100” did she finally believe it was real.
“I lost,” she said.
The money was soaked and “destroyed” with mud from the lake covering the stacks of bills.
It’s unclear whether they will be able to withdraw the money, but the Bureau of Engraving and Printing says that if more than 50% of the currency is identifiable, the legal holder of the notes “may receive a ransom for the full amount,” according to website.
What is magnetic fishing?
Magnet fishing occurs when someone drops a high-powered magnet, such as a neodymium magnet attached to a string, into a body of water and pulls whatever sticks to the ground.
People have found metal of all types, including guns, bullets, bombs, jewelry, safes, and sometimes larger items like motorcycles.
‘NO CRIME’
Once they realized what they found, they did some research and decided to call the New York Police Department to make sure there were no legal issues.
They have done this in the past as shown on their YouTube channel, Let’s get magneticwhen they find objects that they must hand over, such as weapons.
Kane said the NYPD investigated and found no problems with their findings.
“Obviously, it was a safe that was stolen, but there was no crime between us,” Agostini said.
“There were no IDs, there was no way to find the original person in the safe, so they said ‘well, congratulations’.”
When they made the call, a bunch of police officers, including captains, went to the vault to look.
Some officers had been on the force for 18 years and said they had “never heard of anything like this happening in New York City before.”
The US Sun has previously reported many cases of found money, including a buyer who found $43,000 in a thrift store sofa.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
