Couple who discovered £80,000 while 'magnet fishing' have to wait nine months to get the money for strange reason

The couple who came across a metal safe containing a whopping £79,000 ($100,000) will have to wait nine months to actually get the money.

James Kane and Barbie Agostini, from New York, US, were magnet fishing at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens on Friday (31 May) when they came across the incredible discovery.

The duo started magnet fishing as a way of passing the time during the pandemic - and have carried it on ever since.

James Kane and Barbie Agostini love treasure hunting. (NY1)

Their new hobby began a few years ago, and all it involves is attaching a really strong magnet to the end of a fishing rod. That's pretty much it.

But after their recent trip to the river, the couple were more than delighted with what they found.

The huge magnet somehow picked up a 'mystery box' filled with a mega £79,000 ($100,000) worth of cash.

James told NY1: "We have found plenty of safes before, this is just what a magnet fisher does.

"We pulled it out and it was two stacks of freaking hundreds. Big stacks."

“I couldn’t believe it,” Barbie added. “I lost it.”

The couple were stunned at what they found. (NY1)

The good news is that after informing the New York Police Department (NYPD), the force said they could not find any crime attached to the cash - so they could keep it.

However, the bad news is that it seems the money was damaged by the water.

This means that the Treasury Department in DC will have to look through the bills and replace them with new notes.

An 11-person team will now spend up to nine months looking through the soggy paper, and that's how long James and Barbie will have to wait.

Usually, the crew are tasked with resurrecting piles of cash that are sometimes reduced to literal dust when family members bury it in their back gardens.

The cash was not in a good state. (NY1)

That being said, Kane revealed that only 40 percent of the cash he and his wife found survived two weeks on dry land.

Some of the notes were turning brittle and starting to disintegrate.

It made him regret leaving some of the 'destroyed' bills lying in the park that day.

Kane has since opted to send the government an email, writing: “All the immediate attention we’re receiving from this money is driving us a little crazy and we’re a little afraid.

“We don’t have a lot of money so we’re going to be using whatever we have for a bus to get down there.”