American Treasure Hunters Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Seized

[Patrimony]

American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Seized

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Breaking News: Top story on all of Ecuador's 4 TV News stations last night. In all Newspapers today..one article from El Diario pasted below.
\Gist of Article:
House of American owned treasure company raided by Ecuador's special anti-illegal weapons task force Friday and two M-16 s, two machine guns, rifles, pistols and thousands of rounds of ammo were seized.

Although the article does not name them, and neither were on the premises at the time of the early dawn raid by dozens of troops and agents, the company Esscar S.A is Run by Peoria resident Scott Heimdal who is President of said corporation. Robert F. Marx is a close adviser and director of the enterprise and the company's operations are currently being funded by Mr. Marx's investors in Japan.

The full implications of the one arrest of a person found in the house and the seizure of automatic weapons in the possession of the company for the treasure hunting venture are still unclear as the investigation is still ongoing to determine who exactly is involved and how the weapons were obtained and how they arrived in Ecuador. The article also quotes the one arrestee as saying that the directors of the company and owners of the weapons are currently off exploring in Ecuadors' eastern Amazonia region and so at the time of the raid were not available to be detained or questioned.

Possession of illegal weapons carries an automatic 6 years prison term per count in Ecuador and the new government has been cracking down on violators and enforcing the laws vigorously. P

Articulo: El Diario Dec 14, 2007
DICEN QUE ES UNA EMPRESA NORTEAMERICANA
¡Hallan poderosas armas en Anconcito!

ESTE ARTÍCULO HA SIDO LEÍDO 5075 VECES

ANCONCITO, SALINAS
Sorprendidos. Así quedaron la mañana de ayer los moradores del barrio Manabí, parroquia Anconcito, cantón Salinas, cuando en forma inesperada miembros del Ejército del grupo motorizado "Marañón", Policía Judicial y el fiscal Mauricio Suárez decomisaron en una casa gran cantidad de armas de grueso calibre.

El armamento encontrado pertenecería a la compañía norteamericana ESSCAR que se encarga de investigaciones para localizar galeones perdidos en las profundidades del mar.

Jacinto Muñoz, guardia de la empresa en mención y quien se hallaba junto a su familia en el lugar, explicó que las armas están legalmente autorizadas e inclusive presentó los permisos respectivos, sin embargo fue detenido para las investigaciones.

Muñoz dijo que los ejecutivos de la mencionada compañía al momento realizaban una expedición en el Oriente ecuatoriano, y las armas eran utilizadas para defenderse de los piratas del mar cuando salían a exploraciones marítimas.

PODEROSO ARMAMENTO
El fiscal Suárez detalló el armamento encontrado: dos fusiles M16, una subametralladora Uzi, una subametralladora HKM15, dos fusiles, una escopeta, un revólver calibre 38, cartucheras, 1.900 cartuchos 556 y 750 cartuchos calibre 9 mm. Además, varios chalecos antibalas.

El hombre del Ministerio Público indicó que se verificará la procedencia del armamento.

Por su parte el coronel Miguel Rueda, comandante del Batallón "Marañón" y quien dirigió el operativo, manifestó que por un trabajo de inteligencia militar se logró decomisar las armas.

"Vamos a revisar si estas armas han sido adquiridas de forma legal, y por qué esta compañía tiene tantas municiones de investigación científica" enfatizó el militar.

Fin.

 

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[FISHEYE]

Re: American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Se

Thats typical of 3rd world countries.Imprison the treasure hunters or oust them an they get to keep all thier treasure and equipment an ships.Never can trust them.

 

[rgecy]

Re: American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Seized

It sounds like those guys have a treat waiting for them when they get back from "exploring"!

 

[Voldbjerg]

Re: American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Se

Thats typical of 3rd world countries.Imprison the treasure hunters or oust them an they get to keep all thier treasure and equipment an ships.Never can trust them.

Illegal arms are just that - illegal. Just because it is a 3rd world country you still have to abide local law. If there is a need for firepower get a license. The lessons to other THers are go by the book or be prepared to pay the price. BTW what consequences would a illegal weapons cache like that have in the US?

Merry Christmas

V

 

[PyrateJim]

Re: American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Seized

Acutally Robert I have talked to Scott and everything is cool. Before stuff like this is posted you should know all the facts. One person was arrested because permits were not up to date. He was released and everything is settled. Your should know better than to believe everything you read in a paper. RSOP's is above board with all their operations. They didn't have a treat waiting for them and Scott handled it like the gentleman his is.
Grubby

If you translate the article, it states that the arms seized had legal paperwork/documentation "explained that the arms are legally authorized as presented and displayed the respective permission forms" and that "the arms were used to defend themselves against the pirates of the sea when they left to do naval reconnaissances." Yes, they seized the weapons while the confirmed the presented paperwork and legal formalities, but that would happen here in the States if found and only the legallity/registration was being questioned and NOT their use in a crime.

If you break it down, the firepower they came across is not all that impressive. You can find that and then some in the large underwear drawer in most local homes up here in Detroit. We call it "a guarantee of self preservation".

 

[G.I.B.]

Re: American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Se

Having the proper 'permits' makes all the difference. Someone wasn't paid on time...

 

[Patrimony]

Re: American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Seized

According to yesterday's El Universo the so called "rats" who reported this were the otherwise peaceful neighboring residents who have been long alarmed at the sound of automatic weapons fire and gun shots coming from the raided house, often at night, and the erratic and often threatening behavior of some of the residents who have, according to several locals interviewed on TV, have been frightening and even intimidating the neighbors with their guns and gunfire. Indeed, the new papers reported that a firing range with expended cartridges and human paper targets of Osama Bin Ladin were found on the property. Indeed images of such also appeared on local TV news.

At least one of the owners of some of the weapons has since been identified as the President of INCIAR, another one of Mr. Heimdal's Ecuadorian Companies which has obtained a lease on the old Capitana Wreck site near Chanduy.

This later site has been twice completly opened up and what little remaining being cleaned out by pevious treasure companies in 1997 and again in 2002.

The site was abandoned after 2003 and no one rushed in to obtain it after it was determined to be economically not worth the while to continue further salavge ops and after research located in Jesuit archives in France back in 1997 revealed that employed their own recovery operations for ten solid years between 1654 and 1663. The Spanish documents report that they quit recovery operations on the wreck after 1663 after reporting to the King, creditors and cargo owners that the wreck had nothing further to yield.

The site is easy to excavate because it sits in shallow water in 18 ft of water at low tide atop flat bedrock with only about a yard of loose sand over most parts of it. The Spaniards ran her aground at that location on purpose for salvage purposes after being unable to repair a hole in the hull caused by striking a rock some 12 hour earlier the night before they ran her aground. Recovery work began almost immediately and continued for ten years.

Sub-America Corporation, owned by Argentine Herman Moro and financed by Dave Horner, obtained the lease on the site in 1996 and discovered the wreck with a magnetometer about the same time that diver Rob Mc Clung who was working for another company holding the adjacent lease, also stumbled upon it and filed a discovery claim before Sub-America could verify its own discovery.

The two groups then worked together and the R/V Explorer, a 96 ft ship, was sent in March of 1997 to excavate the site which is located about a mile out in front of a small bay opposite the village of El Real. The work was conducted legally and in cooperation with the Ecuadorian Navy and members of the Cultural Patrimony who had many representatives present during the recovery work. A conservation lab was established at the Salinas Naval Base and all of the artifacts were processed at that location before being transfered to the central bank to await division. The division was held about a year later and the Americans were allowed to take their share out of Ecuador for sale in the US.

During the course of the 1997 recovery project the entire remaining hull structure was completely uncovered and all the sand removed from around the wreck and down to bedrock for at least 200 ft in each direction. 96 ft of timbers and a keel were uncovered along with a large pile of egg ballast.

However, the Spaniards had indeed, as their reports state, done their work thoroughly and only another further 6300 silver coins, one gold coin, three silver bars, 54 bronze cannon balls, a small gold cross, some broken jewelry, hundreds of musket balls and lots of broken ceramics were recovered by Sub-America from the remains of the CAPITANA. Most of the valuable artifacts were found buried inside a large 6 ft hole in the bed rock just behind the rudder section where the early salvors had not been able to remove the sand.

Over 200 large feed sacks full of encrusted objects, mostly spikes, were also brought up during the 1997 recovery and lab techs at Salinas maticulously took them apart finding a further 3oo or 400 more coins but otherwise the eo s consisted mostly of oxidized iron spikes which could not be conserved.

The Directors of the two salvage companies subsequently held a meeting in July 1997 and decided jointly that it was not worth any further expenditure to continue working the site since it had been completely uncovered and everything of note had been lifted out. Picking up oxidized coin chips, which there are many abounding, at the cost of $50,000 per month was not deemed worth the while and so the site was abandoned and the RV returned to Florida where it was deployed in fall of 1997 to work at Jupiter Wreck.

Another group out of Florida involving Rob McClung obtained a sub contract from Sub America Discovery in 2002 and returned with an even larger ship to re excavate the site after Rob had claimed that the work was not completed and not every stone had been left unturned, so to speak.

This second modern venture moved the ballst pile around and lifted, looked under and even removed parts of the remaining main bottom hull timbers. They even excavated to bedrock out even further to 500 ft all around the wreck searching for imaginary coin trails, but little more of note was recovered. In sum about 600 more, in mostly poor condition, razor coins came up and the investors who had been promised an easy 50 million return and a mythological six foot tall gold Madona thrown in, all lost their shirts.

However, now in progress, supposedly a ship in the employ of the INCIAR company is on its way from the US to re excavate the site anyway and contrarywise to all evidence, contemporary and ancient, that the site is 99.9 %cleaned out.

Meanwhile, the timing of the arrest and weapons seizures is sure to provoke more delays and oversight by already over zealous, ever suspicious and edgy Ecuadorian officaldom.

We wish them the best in their endeavor. P

 

[boonestone]

Re: American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Seized

In researching RSOP for a possible stock purchase, I thought I read a post from ole grubsteak on this thread yesterday. There was a name I was interested in. Was I dreaming?

 

[Salvor6]

Re: American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Seized

Yes. Grubby is just a memory now.

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Re: American Treasure Hunter's Home Raided by Military in Ecuador: Arms Cache Seized