18 guns found in Hague ditch all real, useable

All 18 firearms pulled from a ditch near Erasmusweg in The Hague by a magnet fisherman on Sunday have been confirmed to be real and usable, the police said Monday. Some were authentic pistols, while others had been modified but were still operational as firearms, according to a police spokesperson, Omroep West reported.

The weapons were discovered inside a single bag retrieved from the water by a magnet fisherman. After alerting authorities, a police diving team was dispatched to search the ditch but recovered no additional weapons.

The police confirmed that the find occurred near Erasmusweg, the same location where another large cache of weapons was discovered earlier this month. In that earlier case, 24 firearms were recovered from the same area.

All firearms recovered on Sunday have been seized by the Explosive Ordnance Reconnaissance Team for further forensic analysis. The origins of both batches remain unknown. “We are continuing the investigation,” the police said.

The discovery marks the second major illegal firearms find in the same canal this month, raising concerns about potential criminal dumping in the area.