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Spanish treasure to be flown home from US military base
Source: Agencies |
February 24, 2012, Friday
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Online Edition
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A treasure trove of gold and silver coins worth US$500 million and recovered from the wreckage of Spanish ship sunk during colonial times will be returned to Spain from Florida today aboard military aircraft.
Two Spanish C-130 military planes have landed at a US Air Force base in Tampa to transport the coins under armed guard, said Guillermo Corral, the cultural attache at Spain's Embassy in Washington.
The treasure of 594,000 gold and silver coins was the focus of an intense five-year legal battle between Spain and a US deep sea salvage company that found them five years ago off the coast of Portugal.
The treasure is believed to be from the wreckage of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a ship sunk by the British Navy in 1804 as it returned from South America.
Last week, a US federal judge ordered the company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, to turn over custody of the coins to Spain, which had argued in courts it was the rightful owner of the ship and its cargo.
The coins have been held in a storage facility at an undisclosed location in Florida since they were found.
Two Spanish C-130 military planes have landed at a US Air Force base in Tampa to transport the coins under armed guard, said Guillermo Corral, the cultural attache at Spain's Embassy in Washington.
The treasure of 594,000 gold and silver coins was the focus of an intense five-year legal battle between Spain and a US deep sea salvage company that found them five years ago off the coast of Portugal.
The treasure is believed to be from the wreckage of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a ship sunk by the British Navy in 1804 as it returned from South America.
Last week, a US federal judge ordered the company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, to turn over custody of the coins to Spain, which had argued in courts it was the rightful owner of the ship and its cargo.
The coins have been held in a storage facility at an undisclosed location in Florida since they were found.
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