Michigan State University's Surplus Store and Recycling Center often sells items many wouldn't find anywhere else; however, last week, the store gave away some multipurpose pens that had hidden knives inside them. 

During the store's teacher sale on July 8, attendees had access to a box of free pens. It was later discovered that some of those pens had hidden knives inside them. 

"You never know what you're going to find, it's kind of like a treasure hunt, that's kind of the fun of it," said Mary, a surplus store shopper who requested we use only her first name. "I kind of volunteer at Cristo Rey Community Center, and so I'm really shopping for the homeless and then also for me."

She said she has found plenty of useful items through the store's free section and never anything dangerous. 

"They're very conscientious ... as soon as they found out that they existed, they pulled it, so yeah, it was like the first negative thing I heard about this place and it's been around for what 40 years or so?" said Mary. 

On July 11, the store  to let people know about the pens. 

"We discovered after the event that there were a handful of pens with hidden knives in them. If you took any of the free pens, we ask that you look through them to ensure you don't have one of these. They have a flashlight on one end and a working pen on the other. They pull apart in the middle, revealing the knife blade," read the post.

The store encourages anyone who may have taken one of the multipurpose pens to email surpluss@msu.edu.

• East Lansing
• Michigan State University
• Michigan