Police investigating Florida magnet fishers’ catch: Sniper rifles

Florida authorities are investigating how a local man and his grandson reeled in two sniper rifle receivers during their magnet fishing trip, CNN reported. 

Duane Smith told the news media outlet that he went on a fishing trip with his 11-year-old grandson, Allen Cadwalader, on January 30. During the trip, Cadwalader reeled in two sniper rifle receivers and bolt carrier groups wrapped in shrinkwrap within five minutes of their arrival. 

Smith and his grandson went home to spend nearly an hour cleaning off the debris-covered weapons just to find that the serial numbers have been wiped out. 

Smith said this was his first-time magnet fishing with his grandson, adding he choose a bridge under a canal near his routine hiking route as the place to go fishing, according to CNN. 

Magnet fishing is when fishers use a strong magnet attached to a thick rope to fish out metal objects that have sunk to the bottom of canals, lakes, ponds, and rivers. 

“With magnet fishing every time I cast out or every other time I’m coming up with something,” Smith told CNN.  “There’s a bottle cap or you know, $7,000 sniper rifle.”

Smith added he knew the weapons they reeled out of the canal were military-grade, estimating that it weighed around 20 pounds and could be worth around $20,000 apiece, CNN reported. 

Smith noted that the rifles were not loaded and no ammunition was found. Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) have obtained the weapons from Smith and placed them in a forensics lab to be processed. 

MDPD detective Alvaro Zabaleta said processing has to be completed in order to know whether the weapons were used in a crime, CNN noted.