A casual outing to CR Swart Dam in Benoni, Ekurhuleni, with his dad and uncle on January 12 took a shocking turn when a young magnet fishing enthusiast fished out a 9mm pistol.

According to an article published by Benoni City Times, Euuan (9), who lives in Benoni, explained he took up the hobby of magnet fishing two months ago. Simply put, it involves retrieving metal objects from underwater using a magnet.

He was enjoying the afternoon with his dad, Richard, and uncle when the firearm latched onto his 2kg magnet.

“While pulling at the 20m rope, it didn’t feel heavy at all, so I was shocked and excited to discover this unusual find attached to the magnet,” says Euuan.

Richard says they had been fishing for about 30 minutes when the discovery occurred on Euuan’s sixth throw.

“He shouted, ‘Dad, I’ve got a gun!’ I saw the gun hanging from the magnet. At first, I thought it wasn’t real but we decided to take it to a friend of ours who had been in the army and he confirmed it was a real firearm.”

They then went to Benoni Police Station to hand over the rusty firearm.

Richard says officers expressed curiosity about the unusual find.

“They said the gun looked like a state firearm from decades past. The officers kept calling each other to come and view the gun, which had no magazine or bullets,” Richard explains.

“What’s strange is that for the past two months, we’ve been fishing at this spot, pulling out coins, LED lights, fishing hooks, paintbrushes, rollers, anything magnetic. I hope the police can figure out where the firearm came from,” says Richard.

Spokesperson for the Benoni SAPS Captain Nomsa Sekele confirmed that the firearm was brought to the station.

“The firearm is rusted, which suggests it was in the water for a long time. It will be sent for an Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) test to determine the serial number.

“Once the serial number is established, we’ll contact the owner to investigate how the firearm ended up in the dam,” Sekele says.

She also clarified that it is not a state firearm.

• The family requested that their surnames not be published for security reasons.