Spain Orders Ship Seizure in $500m Treasure Row

A Spanish judge has ordered police to capture and search two treasure-hunting ships belonging to an American company which has discovered a disputed undersea trove of gold and silver valued at $500m (£250m).

A judge in the southern Spanish town of La Línea told police to stop and search the Odyssey Explorer and Ocean Alert, which were both reported to be at Gibraltar, should they enter Spanish waters.

The court order said the ships should be taken to a Spanish port so that their holds could be searched.

The order came after Spain lodged a claim in a US federal court for ownership, or partial ownership, of the treasure that Odyssey Marine Exploration recovered from a sunken treasure ship it has codenamed Black Swan.

The Spanish culture minister, Carmen Calvo, said that she had received the backing of Spain's defence ministry to use naval vessels to intercept the ships if necessary.

"Put in very simple terms, Spanish and international laws protect us and if anything against the law has occurred, we will respond and what was ours will be returned to Spain," she said.

Odyssey insists the colonial-era shipwreck, which lies under the Atlantic, is outside any country's territorial waters. It has refused to give the exact location and says it is not sure of the ship's identity. Some half a million gold and silver coins were flown to the US after being secretly unloaded in Gibraltar.

Ms Calvo said that Spain had also asked Britain and the US for information on customs papers used by the plane that flew the coins out of Gibraltar.

"The airport at Gibraltar is controlled by the RAF, which means it is impossible that Gibraltar customs did not know what the aircraft was carrying," documents lodged at the court in La Línea stated, according to the Europa Press news agency.