Apr 30, 2010
Fugitive treasure hunter wanted
JAKARTA - INDONESIAN police said on Friday they had barred undersea treasure hunter Michael Hatcher from leaving the country and declared him a fugitive.
'We have banned him from travelling overseas since Thursday because he stole those treasures. The police are still trying to ascertain his whereabouts,' national chief detective Ito Sumardi said. Officials said on Thursday that they had 'strong indications' that Hatcher had been conducting illegal salvage work on a wreck in the Java Strait north of Jakarta.
Some 2,360 pieces of porcelain were seized on the ships that were intercepted in waters off West Java in September. Hatcher could be jailed for five years and fined 50 million rupiah (S$7590) if found guilty.
The treasure hunter has excavated shipwrecks in Indonesia since the mid-1980s, when officials said he made US$17 million (S$23.3 million) from auctioning gold ingots and Chinese porcelain salvaged from a wreck found off the Riau islands.
They said he had already begun to market items from his latest wreck. The hunt for Hatcher comes as the government prepares to conduct an auction for some 270,000 pieces of ancient treasure ranging from Tunisia and Egypt to India and China that was found on a wreck in the Java Strait in 2003. -- AFP
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_521042.html
Fugitive treasure hunter wanted
JAKARTA - INDONESIAN police said on Friday they had barred undersea treasure hunter Michael Hatcher from leaving the country and declared him a fugitive.
'We have banned him from travelling overseas since Thursday because he stole those treasures. The police are still trying to ascertain his whereabouts,' national chief detective Ito Sumardi said. Officials said on Thursday that they had 'strong indications' that Hatcher had been conducting illegal salvage work on a wreck in the Java Strait north of Jakarta.
Some 2,360 pieces of porcelain were seized on the ships that were intercepted in waters off West Java in September. Hatcher could be jailed for five years and fined 50 million rupiah (S$7590) if found guilty.
The treasure hunter has excavated shipwrecks in Indonesia since the mid-1980s, when officials said he made US$17 million (S$23.3 million) from auctioning gold ingots and Chinese porcelain salvaged from a wreck found off the Riau islands.
They said he had already begun to market items from his latest wreck. The hunt for Hatcher comes as the government prepares to conduct an auction for some 270,000 pieces of ancient treasure ranging from Tunisia and Egypt to India and China that was found on a wreck in the Java Strait in 2003. -- AFP
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_521042.html