Four guns pulled from Glasgow canal by magnet fishers amongst nearly half tonne haul

Four guns were among an almost half tonne haul pulled from a canal in Glasgow by local magnet fishers.

Mark McGeachin was joined by others from his Facebook group, Glasgow Magnet Fishing, on Saturday morning when they pulled the 400kg haul.

The group, who use giant magnets to pull items from the water, were situated along Maryhill Road next to the fire station to see what they could find in the canal.

Among Saturday’s haul were four guns, that have since been turned into the police, and a sign from the 1900s.

Mr McGeachin shared that he took the sign home and, after restoring it, has found it to be worth £300 on eBay.

A sign from the 1900's was among the 400kg haul. — A sign from the 1900’s was among the 400kg haul. Supplied

Members of the group have found a number of other items during their excursions such as knives, hatchets and even a £10,000 motorbike.

“That took some time to pull out and many of us had sore backs the next day,” the founder of Glasgow Magnet Fishing told STV News.

Mr McGeachin founded the Facebook page in 2020 after coming across an American YouTuber who was using a magnet to pull items out of the water.

After watching the video he purchased a magnet for himself from Amazon for £13.99 and took up the hobby.

Glasgow Magnet Fishing has been running for four and a half years. Supplied

“The group really took off in lockdown, and now we have over 4,000 members from all over the world.

“The group was great for lockdown as it helped get people outside and help their metal health. During that time we would have anywhere from 50 to 100 people safely spaced outside magnet fishing together.”

Mr McGeachin estimated that the group has pulled around 300-400 tonnes of metal outside of Scottish water ways since starting.

“We clean the environment, and the metal we pull gets set to the scrap man and recycled,” the founder said.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We were made aware of four firearms which had been recovered from a canal in Glasgow which were handed into Bellshill Police Station on Monday, March 25.

“The items were removed to be made safe.”