US Couple Finds Rs 83 Lakh In Cash While Fishing, Cops Let Them Keep It

A couple pulled out a safe filled with $100,000 (₹8,347,000) cash while “magnet fishing” at a New York lake. James Kane and Barbie Agostini went for magnet fishing on May 31, Friday, at a lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. 

The couple tossed a line with a strong magnet attached to the end into the lake. When the two felt something bulky on the other end, they pulled the line out, The Guardian reported.

Their line caught a safe from the bottom of the lake. When they opened the secured box, they found it stuffed with bundles of water-damaged $100 bills, with an estimated value of $100,000.

The couple informed the New York police department about the find, but the cops allowed them to keep the money, for it was not linked to any crime scene, NY1 reported.

The cops also said that there was no way to identify the original owner of the safe, allowing the couple to keep it.

“We have found plenty of safes before. And then I saw the numbers and thought: 'This is not possible.' We pulled it out and it was big stacks of freaking hundreds. These are thick stacks - they're soaking wet, they're pretty much destroyed," BBC quoted Mr Kane as saying.

To this, Agostini added, “There were no IDs, no way to find the original person, in the safe. "[The police] were like: 'Well, congratulations!'"

Kane continued, “I guess the finders' keepers rule worked for us.”

During the same interview, Kane explained that they began magnet fishing during the COVID-19 pandemic as treasure-hunting without having to spend a lot of money on equipment.

For those who don't know, magnet fishing involves putting a rope with a strong magnet on the other end, into water, aiming to retrieve metal objects.

Kane said, “We were bored during COVID lockdown and I've always had this itch to become a treasure hunter … so we discovered something called magnet fishing.”

The couple also revealed that earlier they also found World War Two-era grenades, nineteenth-century guns and a full-size motorbike.