Coronel Antonio Sanchez News

The crew of a Florida-based shipwreck salvage company has been held for a month in a Honduras jail after authorities accused them of gun smuggling, a company spokesman said on Thursday. Stephen Mayne of the Tarpon Springs-based Aqua Quest International said the company had a contract with a local municipality to do salvage work. Mayne said the company told port officials in advance they would be carrying guns for protection against pirates. "We didn't just show up out of the blue. This was all pre-arranged," Mayne said. Coronel Antonio Sanchez, a spokesman for the Honduran armed forces, said the crew was arrested because they did not have permits to possess guns in the country. "In Honduras, you can't carry guns without the appropriate documents," Sanchez said.