A MAN stumbled across a mysterious safe that is now being probed by cops after he discovered it had “royal” connections.
Treasure hunter Leigh, 42, was fishing with a giant magnet overseas when he found the long-lost loot.
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Along with his friends, the group pulled up what turned out to be a heavy safe and managed to crack it open.
But nothing could have prepared the treasure hunter for what he was about to find inside.
Leigh began pulling out a collection of foreign photographs, documents, keys, empty jewellery boxes, and a variety of other personal items.
“We Googled the name on the passport and found out it belonged to a royal family,” he told News au.
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The surfer, who can not reveal which royal family the safe belonged to due to an ongoing police investigation, said he had managed to track down the owner on social media and return the personal items.
Leigh made a call on Facebook and asked the stranger if they were a member of the royal family – to which they replied “Yes”.
“I think I said ‘So I found the Crown Jewels.’ And we both had a laugh,” he told the outlet.
But this isn’t the only time Leigh has struck gold while scouring open waters for hidden treasures.
He has found hundreds of safes in canals around the globe, some of which have less royal backgrounds.
The hunter revealed that some safes have been looted and discarded by criminals.
The thrill of finding out what lies inside the abandoned safes is what keeps Leigh going, as some contain credit cards, car keys, coins, and guns, while others are left mysteriously empty.
He recalled once discovering a safe so large, that he had to hire a crane to pull it from a canal in Amsterdam, where he currently lives.
Inside the mega-safe was a bundle of memorial coins that he later turned over to the cops.
But as they hadn’t been collected after a year, he got to keep the loot.
Leigh’s most valuable find has been over £2,600 worth of jewellery collected from Croatia, France, Italy, Australia, and the Netherlands.
His entire collection – which consists of thousands of items, including guns from the 1800s, knives from the 1600s, cannon balls, as well as modern items including motorbikes, phones, and GoPros, is worth tens of thousands of pounds.
But the keen treasure hunter doesn’t keep all his findings and makes a living through social media.
He also uses his online platforms to search for potential owners of his finds in the hopes the treasure will return to the right hands.
During his 15 years as an international treasure hunter, Leigh has even teamed up with cops and helped locate guns and knives suspected of being used in crimes.
“If we find a gun, we pull it out and we keep it in the same water that we found it and the police will come and they can do DNA testing on it … They’re really happy to hear from us when these things happen,” he said.
A previous discovery in Gouda, Netherlands, saw Leigh dig up a stolen police alarm pistol which later got taken in for DNA testing.
Leigh doesn’t ever find out whether his findings have contributed to the solving of a crime, but he believes that through his work criminals will now “think twice” about where they dump their evidence.
The avid treasure seeker admitted that the work he does now is his dream job and encourages others to go out and find their own treasures that are awaiting them.
It comes after one treasure hunter searching for a legendary lost goldmine said to be worth billions believes he is closer than ever after a major breakthrough.
Another treasure seeker revealed the three crucial signs that could mean there are thousands of pounds worth of goods hidden in your walls and floorboards.
And one man was left stunned after buying a locked box from a charity shop, only to find a treasure trove inside.
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Taryn Pedler
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