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Sealand -- too good to be true
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April 17, 2000 |
Daily Planet is a collection of short news items -- one each weekday -- that evoke and illuminate the far corners of the world. To read previous items, visit the Daily Planet archive. Send all tips to DailyPlanet
Francisco Trujillo Ruiz was arrested in Madrid recently for allegedly selling passports to his imaginary principality to common criminals. According to a Reuters report, Ruiz was posing as consul for the Sealand Consulate in central Madrid. How did a government that doesn't exist get its own consulate? Good question. Ruiz must be quite a talker, because the Sealand Consulate not only sold passports but also owned two "government" cars with diplomatic license plates -- which, on important occasions, received escort by Spanish police. According to the consulate's "official" Web site, Sealand was founded in the 1970s by Briton Paddy Roy Bates, is located on an old military platform in the Thames estuary, has its own flag and issues passports to those in need of alternative citizenship. What's more, it follows international law, too.
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