Dear Silky.
I question your friends judgement when he
built a submarine in the midst of the largest cannabis plantation in the
world. It is human nature to think....If it looks like a duck, walks like
a duck,
and quacks like a duck, it is probably a
duck. I can understand how the authorities whether right or wrong assumed
it was for drug smuggling. If he had notified the authorities before hand
that he was
building a sub and made sure they understood,
this might not have happened to him. It is unfortunate that someone has to
let the authorities know and maybe even get their permission
to do something that is not illegal like
building his sub. This does not excuse the authorities for making their
mistake, but I think it is understandable. It appears the authorities
saved a little face by retaining
the weapons charges for the spearguns being
mounted on it. They probably did this so your friend could not bring
charges against them. If they have something on him he most likely will
not bring charges
against them. Typical cover your butt
procedure for authorities caught making a mistake. One question. Did they
return his sub to him? I am going to suspect that they kept it and used
the "weapons" charge to
justify him not getting his sub back. This
way not only do they save face, but they make sure his sub is never used
for drug smuggling. They might think it would be possible for a boat to
tow the sub underwater and unseen for some
distance, and then have a quick release cable
on the sub so it could detach if a patrol boat came along and the tow boat
warned the sub. This way the sub COULD be towed for a drug run and detach
and hide until a patrol boat left after inspecting the tow
boat.
Then the sub could reattach the
communications, air, power and tow lines and continue on underwater with
the tow boat. This is a possible scenereo and I believe could be, or maybe
already has been done. It makes sense. It might sound difficult
but
drug smugglers are crafty and the payoff is
very high when they succeed so they have a lot of money to built a
complex, detachable tow, sub. I always believe if it can be
done, it will be done, by someone eventually.
When my sub is operational I plan to join my
close by local coast guard auxillary. That way the coast guard will know
about my sub and myself, and hopefully this will preclude any
misconceptions about my subs use by the authorities. I foresee that I
could get
some raised eyebrows from authorities what
with all the terrorism in the world and our increased homeland security
(or lack thereof, Lol) I plan to use common sense and be very open about
my sub and its use. Me helping in the coast guard
auxilliary is a good thing and doesn't hurt
your image in the eyes of the coast guard because they know what you are
about and this helps to avoid what happened to your friend. Being a member
of the coast guard auxilliary doesn't mean I
wouldn't be able to use the sub to attach
a limpet mine to a ship, but it sure makes it less likely in
their perception. That is what really counts here isn't it? The
authorities mistaken perception of your friend.
I sympathize with your friend. I do hope he
got his sub back but I doubt it.
Your point is very valid and well taken.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
Kindest Regards,
Bill Akins.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 6:42
PM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST]
Spearfishing WARNING
I dont know what the if this is relative to the laws in
USA but worth going into. (sorry about spelling(not english)) (intro) i
was born in spain and lived in the riff for some time (this is the
largest cannabis plantation in the world) i have been spearfishing all
my life, (main)a few years ago a friend from the riff atempted to built
a psub for spearfishing reason! however it was conviscated by the
military police and he was sent to cort with charges of having built a
drug sub and aditional charges for having mounted weapons (spearguns!)
(result)he spent 1.5 years in jail for this befor a friend was able to
prove that he would never have been able to navigate\ travel 20km to
spain and thus as he is capable of such calculations, prove that this
was never the intention. the courts accepted this but did not drop the
charges about the weapons(truely outrageos). He is being released this
summer. so dear spearfish psubers please dont get accidentaly involved
in su! chlike i think this may b a problem if you live far south much
respect
_____________________________________________
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