MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — Authorities in Florida say a commercial fisherman reeled in a live missile in the Gulf of Mexico and kept it on his boat for 10 days.
The sheriff’s office in Pinellas County says the boat’s captain, Rodney Salomon, hooked the air-to-air guided missile 80 kilometres off the Panhandle town of Panama City.
The U.S. air force and navy use Gulf waters off the Panhandle for weapons training. Salomon had the missile aboard his boat for 10 days before returning Monday to port in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg.
A bomb squad was called in and dismantled the missile in an empty parking lot.