TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Two cargo planes are flying to a U.S. military base in Florida to pick up a vast shipwreck treasure that Spain wrested away from deep-sea explorers.
MacDill Air Force Base officials said in a statement Tuesday the Air Force is cooperating with the Spanish government in the transfer of the 17 tons of silver coins and other artifacts. That’s expected to happen later this week, but officials won’t say exactly when.
Spanish officials are in the process of inspecting and cataloguing the treasure in preparation for the transfer.
Spain won the treasure from Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration after a protracted court battle. Odyssey found and raised it from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean off the Portuguese coast in 2007.
