We're political pawns, says caver

Out of the cave and into Mexican custody

A British caver being held by the Mexican authorities says he and his fellow pot-holers were being used as "political pawns".

Ex-Army major Jonathan Sims, 41, has been detained with five other Britons since they were rescued from a flooded cavern near Cuetzalan on Thursday.

The group was being treated well, but had been given the run-around, he said.

The Mexican authorities have been investigating claims the group breached visa rules by searching for uranium.

'Diversion'

Mr Sims, who is now a businessman based in Shanghai, dismissed reports the group had been looking for radioactive materials as the work of "hotheads" in the Mexican media.

The uranium story was being used as a diversion, he alleged.

"There appears to be some sort of bad news in Mexico bubbling under. I think it has been a way of diverting the press around from internal problems," he said.

He also said it was clear that all the correct permits, which hundreds of others had used before, had been in place for their caving expedition.

The Foreign Office said earlier that an investigation into the uranium search claims had been dropped by the Mexican authorities.

He said the group was now being held in a "posh block" of a camp for illegal immigrants.

We have been through all this investigation with the justice department and the immigration department and all the indications are that we have done absolutely nothing wrong at all Jonathan Sims

"They are feeding us. We have got beds to sleep in. We are cavers and quite used to roughing it," he added.

British embassy staff had been with the group much of the time and had lent them mobile phones so they could call their family, he said.

His parents Alan and Audrey, who live in Lancing, West Sussex, had therefore not been worried about him, he said.

But he expressed frustration at the group's continuing detention.

"We have been through all this investigation with the justice department and the immigration department and all the indications are that we have done absolutely nothing wrong at all," he added.

He said the group was now waiting to hear when they would be freed.