Pair arrested at RDU with gun silencers

Morrisville, N.C. — Two men have been charged with carrying gun silencers in their luggage on an international flight, authorities said.

George Hope and Garry Latcham, two United Kingdom residents, flew to the Triangle last week aboard American Airlines' flight from London to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. They reported one of their bags as missing, according to an affidavit filed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

When airline workers located the bag, a customs agent examined it and found two silencers inside, the affidavit said.

Silencers are strictly regulated in the U.S.

Hope and Latcham were arrested Friday when they returned to RDU to pick up the bag. They told investigators they had bought the silencers in England and planned to give them to a friend in Roxboro whom they were visiting, according to the affidavit.

The Roxboro man, Peter Slivinski, refused to speak with customs agents, according to the affidavit.