CNN TODAY: 6 American Treasure Hunters Detained in Honduras

[Treasure_Hunter]

Off course the same laws that apply to citizens of Honduras, certainly don't apply to a ship full of guns manned by foreigners.
Simply declaring them does not necessarily give anybody the right to carry weapons in places like Honduras
It's very arrogant to do so....

Wikipedia is great, what would some folks do without it huh?, but common sense is better....

They did not have a ship full of guns, they had two handguns, two shotguns, and a semiautomatic rifle, they also informed Honduras authorities three months prior to the trip that they’d have the weapons on board.

Weapons are carried because of the real danger of pirates....

The problem is Honduras corrupt government and legal system....







American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

 

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[Vox veritas]

Off course the same laws that apply to citizens of Honduras, certainly don't apply to a ship full of guns manned by foreigners.
Simply declaring them does not necessarily give anybody the right to carry weapons in places like Honduras
It's very arrogant to do so....

Wikipedia is great, what would some folks do without it huh?, but common sense is better....

Padron, according to maritime international law, a ship can carry weapons, but under the responsibility of the captain, has to declare them upon arrival to the country, and the authority of the country will sealed in the armory of the ship or in the custody of the authorities .
We'd have to know further details of the case to comment.

 

[signumops]

Our trusty comrades in the State Department are paying the Hondurans to seize weapons, to wit:

"TEGUCIGALPA - On April 7, Ambassador Lisa Kubiske and the President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez attended the inauguration of the new Intelligence and Special Security Response Groups Unit (TIGRES).
The TIGRES Program was launched by the Government of Honduras to improve public security by combating organized crime. Nine instructors from the U.S. Army Special Forces and ten instructors from the elite Colombian National Police Jungla were assigned to train 105 students of the TIGRES program for a period of 12 weeks.
The training includes patrolling, land navigation, first aid, air mobile operations, marksmanship, operations planning, close quarters combat, human rights, evidence handling, survival training, and mountaineering.
To date, the U.S. Government has provided US$ 1 million in assistance to the TIGRES Program, as another example of U.S. cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime."

or read it yourself at: Press Releases 2014 | Embassy of the United States Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Without violating previous non-disclosures, I can tell you that Aqua Quest was not in Honduras to steal anything. Quite the contrary. If, in fact, Bob Mayne notified Honduras IN ADVANCE that he was en route, carrying weapons, I would not be surprised to find out that our State Department advised Honduras to seize him and his boat.

And there is this:

"TEGUCIGALPA — Ambassador Lisa Kubiske officially launched a program to assist the Honduran government in securing its weapons stocks and destroying excess and obsolete weapons and munitions. At the ceremony, the Ambassador and representatives of the Honduran government and NGOs presided over the donation of one of two hydraulic weapons destruction cutting shears donated by the U.S. Government to the Honduran Armed Forces and Honduran National Police.The Vice-Minister of Security Jose Lima Bueso, the Director of Honduran National Police General Ramon Sabillon, the Director of Organizations, Operations and Crisis Management, Brigadier General Carlos Puerto Funez, Commander of CALFFAA Colonel Elvin Noe Corea Corea, Director of Prosecutor Rolando Argueta, Director of CONADEH Roberto Herrera Caceres, and Director of CIPRODEH Wilfredo Mendez also participated in the inauguration at the Logistic Military Command Center in Tegucigalpa.
The donation of the weapons cutters is a vital component of the weapons destruction program funded by the U.S. Government and implemented by MAG International, a British non-governmental organization that has conducted arms and ammunition management and destruction projects across Africa and Central America. The program includes the destruction of excess or unserviceable weapons and munitions, upgraded security at Honduran weapons storage sites, and training for the Honduran National Police, Armed Forces, and the Public Ministry.
The two cutter systems have the capacity to destroy over 50,000 weapons each. The weapons cutters will allow the Honduran government to greatly reduce the number of excess of weapons that the National Police, Armed Forces, and Public Ministry have in their storage sites.
Civil society groups will also plan an active role in the program with groups like CONADEH and CIPRODEH assisting with monitoring of the weapons destruction program. "

Press Releases 2014 | Embassy of the United States Tegucigalpa, Honduras

 

[el padron]

Padron, according to maritime international law, a ship can carry weapons, but under the responsibility of the captain, has to declare them upon arrival to the country, and the authority of the country will sealed in the armory of the ship or in the custody of the authorities .
We'd have to know further details of the case to comment.

You're right, and I agree.

 

[Hot zone]

My experience in TJ when on Navy liberty in 1969 and returning to the border intoxicated was to have my buddies bribe the cops with $20... I was never so thankful to have friends... Twenty bucks was a lot of money when you only made $70 a month... And the Tijuana jail was not a fun place! I would pay $17,000 before spending one day in a foreign prison...but then again, I wont have too, confining my travels to the United States!

 

[aquanut]

Our trusty comrades in the State Department are paying the Hondurans to seize weapons, to wit:

"TEGUCIGALPA - On April 7, Ambassador Lisa Kubiske and the President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez attended the inauguration of the new Intelligence and Special Security Response Groups Unit (TIGRES).
The TIGRES Program was launched by the Government of Honduras to improve public security by combating organized crime. Nine instructors from the U.S. Army Special Forces and ten instructors from the elite Colombian National Police Jungla were assigned to train 105 students of the TIGRES program for a period of 12 weeks.
The training includes patrolling, land navigation, first aid, air mobile operations, marksmanship, operations planning, close quarters combat, human rights, evidence handling, survival training, and mountaineering.
To date, the U.S. Government has provided US$ 1 million in assistance to the TIGRES Program, as another example of U.S. cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime."

or read it yourself at: Press Releases 2014 | Embassy of the United States Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Without violating previous non-disclosures, I can tell you that Aqua Quest was not in Honduras to steal anything. Quite the contrary. If, in fact, Bob Mayne notified Honduras IN ADVANCE that he was en route, carrying weapons, I would not be surprised to find out that our State Department advised Honduras to seize him and his boat.

And there is this:

"TEGUCIGALPA — Ambassador Lisa Kubiske officially launched a program to assist the Honduran government in securing its weapons stocks and destroying excess and obsolete weapons and munitions. At the ceremony, the Ambassador and representatives of the Honduran government and NGOs presided over the donation of one of two hydraulic weapons destruction cutting shears donated by the U.S. Government to the Honduran Armed Forces and Honduran National Police.The Vice-Minister of Security Jose Lima Bueso, the Director of Honduran National Police General Ramon Sabillon, the Director of Organizations, Operations and Crisis Management, Brigadier General Carlos Puerto Funez, Commander of CALFFAA Colonel Elvin Noe Corea Corea, Director of Prosecutor Rolando Argueta, Director of CONADEH Roberto Herrera Caceres, and Director of CIPRODEH Wilfredo Mendez also participated in the inauguration at the Logistic Military Command Center in Tegucigalpa.
The donation of the weapons cutters is a vital component of the weapons destruction program funded by the U.S. Government and implemented by MAG International, a British non-governmental organization that has conducted arms and ammunition management and destruction projects across Africa and Central America. The program includes the destruction of excess or unserviceable weapons and munitions, upgraded security at Honduran weapons storage sites, and training for the Honduran National Police, Armed Forces, and the Public Ministry.
The two cutter systems have the capacity to destroy over 50,000 weapons each. The weapons cutters will allow the Honduran government to greatly reduce the number of excess of weapons that the National Police, Armed Forces, and Public Ministry have in their storage sites.
Civil society groups will also plan an active role in the program with groups like CONADEH and CIPRODEH assisting with monitoring of the weapons destruction program. "

Press Releases 2014 | Embassy of the United States Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Well it looks like the Hondurans have five whole new weapons to cut up so the drug smugglers can seize the boat with their uncut weapons when it is able to sail from Honduran waters...

 

[LM]

Off course the same laws that apply to citizens of Honduras, certainly don't apply to a ship full of guns manned by foreigners.
Simply declaring them does not necessarily give anybody the right to carry weapons in places like Honduras
It's very arrogant to do so....

Wikipedia is great, what would some folks do without it huh?, but common sense is better....

The law I was referencing wasn't in regards to 'citizens of Honduras'. It was regards to non-citizens who were entering Honduras with firearms... and that's even assuming its correct and they're being subject to the benefit of the law.

Anyone who's been around can't help but laugh at naive types who appeal to their 'interpretation of the law!!" as if its some sort of protection in places where the laws are kabuki theater at best. Doesn't matter of its a traffic stop on the Southside of Chicago or dealing with the Honduran Military, don't expect 'the law' to save yuo with those people.

Model your risk tollerance accordingly.

 

[hobbit]

They were being offered clemency.
Being offered the chance to pay a bribe was a generous act of leniency.

I wonder how often Honduran law enforcement offers "generous acts of leniency" to drug cartels and other criminals who run rampant through the country ?

Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world and is overrun with illegal firearms. Apparently the police aren't doing a very good job of curtailing the availability of firearms to the local criminal element.

But they got these dangerous Gringos.

To me, a "generous act of leniency" would have been to release Capt. Mayne and his crew WITHOUT trying to extort $17,000 from them. They are so obviously not criminals, it is ridiculous.

Capt. Mayne showed bigger cojones than the criminals trying to steal from he and his crew.

He showed something not seen often in that part of the world: tremendous personal integrity.

I salute him.

 

[LM]

Capt. Mayne showed bigger cojones than the criminals trying to steal from he and his crew.

He showed something not seen often in that part of the world: tremendous personal integrity.

I salute him.

And if things work out well for him, what a monument to 'personal integrity' his actions will be!!

And if they don't, when he's on year 2, 3, 5 in a Honduran prison, long after his case and this thread are forgotten but he's still living in hell, I can assure you he will have wished he understod the value of situational flexability a bit better.

 

[el padron]

And if things work out well for him, what a monument to 'personal integrity' his actions will be!!

And if they don't, when he's on year 2, 3, 5 in a Honduran prison, long after his case and this thread are forgotten but he's still living in hell, I can assure you he will have wished he understod the value of situational flexability a bit better.

I've done nothing but agree with you, and by the way, its "la Policia"

 

[G.I.B.]

TAMPA FOX Ch13 news story.

Click this for the video.

It states in part:

TARPON SPRINGS (FOX 13) -Six men are locked up in a Honduras jail accused of smuggling guns.


The crew of the Aqua Quest International, a Tarpon Springs-based underwater salvage company, left for Honduras on May 1.
Capt. Robert Mayne Jr., his brother Michael, Nick Cook, Devon Butler, Kelly Garrett and Steve Matanich were arrested at port on gun charges.
Five of the six men work out of Tarpon Springs.
The company's COO, Stephen Mayne, calls the charges outrageous and wants their crew released immediately.
"If one were to buy into the story presented by the prosecution- that we've spent three years and tens of thousands of dollars to get to this point in the project so we could smuggle weapons- it just doesn't make sense," Mayne said.
The company was contracted by the municipality of Ahuas, a small town near the Gulf Coast, to clear debris from the bottom of a waterway and help with flood prevention efforts. It’s a project three years and tens of thousands of dollars in the making.
When the crew arrived to dock in Puerto Lempira on May 5, naval and local law enforcement boarded the ship, arrested the men and accused them of smuggling guns.
Admittedly, there were several weapons on board: Two pistols, two shotguns and a semi-automatic MH70ab2, which looks similar to an AK-47.

 

[G.I.B.]

Tampa Bay Times article.

Click this

States in part:


The crew of the 65-foot vessel Aqua Quest has been detained ever since the ship was intercepted by local police as it arrived in Honduras on May 5.
Five of the crew members are from Tarpon Springs, and one is from Massachusetts.
The company Aqua Quest International typically salvages precious cargo from shipwrecks. The crew went to Honduras to recover valuable mahogany logs from the bottom of a river bed in cooperation with a local city and an Indian tribe.
However, after the ship pulled into port, authorities came aboard and arrested the crew.

 

[xrunndonex]

Off course the same laws that apply to citizens of Honduras, certainly don't apply to a ship full of guns manned by foreigners.
Simply declaring them does not necessarily give anybody the right to carry weapons in places like Honduras
It's very arrogant to do so....

Wikipedia is great, what would some folks do without it huh?, but common sense is better....

Amen.. its like a american going into Canada they have a license for it but its issued by the united states... then you drive over the boarder. You get pulled over bam they found yo gat son. Then you're doing time for having a illegal firearm. Blah blah sometimes they just ship you back to the states and ban you. Unno about you're car though... hm

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Remember they advised Honduras authorities months ahead of time they would have firearms on board..... when is last time you heard of smugglers advising authorities when, where and how many guns you would have on you....






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

 

[xrunndonex]

Remember they advised Honduras authorities months ahead of time they would have firearms on board..... when is last time you heard of smugglers advising authorities when, where and how many guns you would have on you....

American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

It'd be a good tactic look and sound innocent. Then smuggle the drugs in lol.... but they need to smuggle them to the states... hmm nothing really comes by boat anymore. Watch gangland-bmf (black mafia family. They had to change it all after 9/11. Its a good documentary pretty amazing even though it was highly illegal still amazing a group of people provided for almost all of the states

 

[el padron]

Remember they advised Honduras authorities months ahead of time they would have firearms on board..... when is last time you heard of smugglers advising authorities when, where and how many guns you would have on you....






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

Its Honduras…………..

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Its Honduras…………..

They were not smugglers. .





American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......

 

[Boatlode]

There is zero respect for Americans abroad, thanks to the Apologizer-In-Chief.

 

[hobbit]

I don't believe Capt. Mayne did anything wrong, but since travelling to another country and violating its laws is "arrogant and stupid", I suggest we start enforcing OUR laws against the estimated 600,000 Honduran nationals living here illegally and breaking United States law on a daily basis.

 

[el padron]

Well, maybe just as soon as they finish replacing all the doors, windows and painting the exterior of this one building.,
Then I can go back to California and take another three months off......