Be careful [what you bring] when you visit the States... 
RALEIGH (AP) Two Britons are back home after spending nearly a month in North Carolina jails over two silencers they said they brought into the country as a gift for a hunting buddy.
The pair traveled from England to North Carolina in November for a week of hunting with a friend in Person County, north of Durham. They were arrested when they went to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport to pick up a lost bag, which held the silencers, The News & Observer reported Wednesday.
A defense lawyer said the silencers were for use on air guns, as is common in England.
Federal officials deported Garry Latcham, 43, and George Hope, 41, last week after they pleaded guilty to a felony charge of failing to declare the $55 silencers on U.S. customs forms.
"We came for a holiday of a lifetime, and we got one," Latcham told The News & Observer of Raleigh in a telephone interview. "I will never come back to the United States, ever."
The Britons were visiting Latcham's friend Peter Slivinski, the newspaper reported.
Customs agents found two silencers that the men initially said were to be used on firearms, according to court documents. Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Kocher said the idea that the SAK silencers were for air rifles was expressed later.
Before being sent home, the two men spent 24 days being shuttled by federal officials among jails in Alamance, Edgecombe and Wake counties and slept on floor mats, the newspaper said.
"It isn't human," Latcham said of American jails. "My dog eats better than the food in there."
The men's attorney, Doug Kingsbery of Raleigh, said silencers are used in England for air guns.
"At the point they realized this was just an innocent mistake, they should have just let them go," Kingsbery said. "These guys went through a terrifying experience, being in a foreign country's jail."
Kingsbery said the silencers are required in England near towns and villages and are available without a permit.
But Kocher said customs agents "reacted as they have been trained" when they found the silencers, which are regulated as tightly as machine guns and can't be brought into the United States.
Silencers are attached to a gun barrel to reduce the noise and flash of a gunshot.
Prosecutors dropped charges of importing firearms when the men agreed to plead guilty to failing to report the silencers.
"We found no connection to any organized criminal activity," Kocher said. "Had they declared them, it may have very well been that they were seized and everyone went on their way."
Read the story here.
RALEIGH (AP) Two Britons are back home after spending nearly a month in North Carolina jails over two silencers they said they brought into the country as a gift for a hunting buddy.
The pair traveled from England to North Carolina in November for a week of hunting with a friend in Person County, north of Durham. They were arrested when they went to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport to pick up a lost bag, which held the silencers, The News & Observer reported Wednesday.
A defense lawyer said the silencers were for use on air guns, as is common in England.
Federal officials deported Garry Latcham, 43, and George Hope, 41, last week after they pleaded guilty to a felony charge of failing to declare the $55 silencers on U.S. customs forms.
"We came for a holiday of a lifetime, and we got one," Latcham told The News & Observer of Raleigh in a telephone interview. "I will never come back to the United States, ever."
The Britons were visiting Latcham's friend Peter Slivinski, the newspaper reported.
Customs agents found two silencers that the men initially said were to be used on firearms, according to court documents. Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Kocher said the idea that the SAK silencers were for air rifles was expressed later.
Before being sent home, the two men spent 24 days being shuttled by federal officials among jails in Alamance, Edgecombe and Wake counties and slept on floor mats, the newspaper said.
"It isn't human," Latcham said of American jails. "My dog eats better than the food in there."
The men's attorney, Doug Kingsbery of Raleigh, said silencers are used in England for air guns.
"At the point they realized this was just an innocent mistake, they should have just let them go," Kingsbery said. "These guys went through a terrifying experience, being in a foreign country's jail."
Kingsbery said the silencers are required in England near towns and villages and are available without a permit.
But Kocher said customs agents "reacted as they have been trained" when they found the silencers, which are regulated as tightly as machine guns and can't be brought into the United States.
Silencers are attached to a gun barrel to reduce the noise and flash of a gunshot.
Prosecutors dropped charges of importing firearms when the men agreed to plead guilty to failing to report the silencers.
"We found no connection to any organized criminal activity," Kocher said. "Had they declared them, it may have very well been that they were seized and everyone went on their way."
Read the story here.
