Weapon tracking runs from the United States

The attack rifles and pistols arrived in Haiti, stored in two cardboard boxes nestled among packs of food and clothing, on a cargo ship arranged with rust-red containers for delivery.

They came from the United States, which an expert described as a “supermarket” who fed a weapons competition among bands that brought chaos to the Caribbean island.

An investigation into the BBC and BBC World Service checked trace the journey of the two boxes, showing how weapons from the United States reach Haiti. It reveals a chain of loose laws, absent inspections and suspected corruption used by traffickers to circumvent the UN embargo.

The Haitian police announced in April 2024 that they had seized the two boxes. They contained 12 assault rifles, 14 pistols and 999 ammunition cartridges.

A police photo clearly shows a weapon of two different manufacturers based in the US.

The shipment has traveled nearly 1,200 km (746 miles) from Fort Lodherdale in Florida to Cap-Haitien in North Haiti, on the Rainer D, cargo ship.

The shipping container was filled in a storage yard at Fort Loderdale, according to the UN expert group, which is charged with monitoring sanctions against Haiti and investigating the shipment.

Haitians in the US often send as much necessary food and other items in the country.

A man named Anestine Prestin told Miami Herald that at the end of February 2024 he made a place in the container.

He told the newspaper that a man who gave his name as “Diamortino”, placed in two boxes, saying that they contained “clothes” – and that he was shocked to learn later that they had a weapon.

BBC's attempts to contact d -n Predestin were unsuccessful.

It is not clear where the weapons were purchased. Weapons are not manufactured in Haiti, and previous seizures include weapons purchased in Florida.

Sometimes called the “rifle state”, Florida was one of about 30 states, where by 2024 private, unlicensed sellers could sell a firearm, such as exhibitions and online, without checking. As President Joe Biden tightened these rules on a national scale.

The UN panel says that two Haitiani brothers with headquarters used “straw buyers” – persons who buy on their behalf – to buy weapons in the seized shipment.

Experts say this is a common method, often with weapons transported in multiple small quantities, a process called “ants trafficking”.

The container was sent by Florida -based shipping company Alliance International Shipping, according to Haitian police.

Alliance International Delivery does not own ships traveling to Haiti, but buys space for ships and sells it to customers as d -Predestin.

The president of the company, Gregory Morale, said in a statement to the BBC that it provides empty containers to customers, but physically does not interact with the load.

“Unfortunately, we have no viable means of preventing illegal shipments,” he says, adding the company to cooperate with the authorities and there are many employees originating in Haiti.

“It is tragic that many of our own families were victims of weapons violence in Haiti,” he adds.

The BBC contacted US customs and border defense to ask if the shipment could be checked as it left the United States but did not receive an answer.

The UN panel said last September that a search of the United States had increased, but “the bigger part of 200 containers directed from South Florida to Haiti every week are not inspected.”

A former employee of the US Alcohol Bureau, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives (ATF) Bill Kulman told the BBC that inspection of output loads is a “very distraction” and the volume of shipments is “incredible”.

The Haitian police claimed to have discovered weapons in the “targeted search” of the container.

According to the UN panel, a senior Customs officer of Haiti has placed one of the boxes containing weapons in his vehicle and was arrested and fired a few days later.

Police said they were looking for a man named Wilman Jean, who was referred to in the customs data as the recipient of the shipment – the person responsible for receiving it.

The BBC understands from sources in Haiti that he is a customs broker, is on the move and is suspected of being connected to the gang in the northern part of the country.

A previous UN report says that Haitian customs operations suffer from a lack of capacity, corruption between senior officials and threats and attacks from bands.

BBC's attempts to contact the Haitian customs authorities for comment were unsuccessful.

By the time the weapons were packed in the shipping container, the gang wave passed through the Haitian capital, Port-O-Prem.

The banks released thousands of prisoners from the main prison and blocked the ports and the airport of the capital.

In March 2024, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, unable to return from a trip abroad, agreed to withdraw.

A record 5,601 people were killed in violence with bands in Haiti in 2024, according to the UN. Its agencies say that almost a tenth of the population – over a million people – escaped from their homes, and half of the population faces a sharp hunger. The abduction and extortion are great.

Wilson, a Port-O-Prince master, was shot in his feet as he tried to run as gangs fight over the territory in his neighborhood.

“It was chaos, everyone was running away from their homes,” he told the BBC. “My leg stopped working. When I looked down, the blood was poured.”

He now lives with hundreds of other people in a school, which is used as a shelter.

Experts say the authorities do not have the capacity to take back control, despite support from international security forces, including at least 800 Kenyan police officers.

The gangs have won territory in the last six months and now control at least 85% of the capital, says Romain Le Cur, a Haiti expert in a global initiative against transnational organized crime, a non -governmental organization with headquarters in Geneva.

Band members often pose in social media with high -caliba weapons. Experts told the BBC that some of the weapons shown were definitely made in the United States and others were probably manufactured there.

However, weapons and ammunition “continue to come,” says G -L Le Cour, which is a “massive engine for violence and instability”.

To investigate the potential scale of US traffic using similar delivery routes, the BBC analyzes customs data shared with us from the Data Data Cargofax platform.

We have drawn up a list of persons currently under the sanctions on the alleged gang in Haiti and others who have been arrested in Haiti or the United States as suspect weapons.

We have checked these names against thousands of records from US shipments to Haiti in four years.

A total of 26 people on the list were listed as recipients for 286 shipments, which were held before being placed under sanctions or arrested. It is unclear whether these shipments contain a weapon.

Listed 24 times as the recipient is a Victor profile, a former member of the Haiti Parliament, which was later placed under the sanctions of the UN and the United States to arm the bands and weapons of traffic. He was arrested in Haiti in January.

“First of all, US authorities don't do enough,” says G -L Le Cur.

G -N -Kulman, a former US employee at ATF, says he has no legal obligation to report suspicious buyers.

Changes to US weapons laws are “really politically difficult to achieve,” he says, but he would like to see a volunteer code of behavior for firearms sellers, covering problems such as suspicious buyers and sharing information.

Also, the registration of pistols – similar to car registration – is available in several states and can be “really useful” if it is accepted wider, adds g -n Kullman.

Jonathan Lowi, a president of global arms violence action, says weapons manufacturers are told when weapons are under investigation and aware of which dealers are selling weapons to traffickers.

“Manufacturers who cut these dealers will immediately stop most of the US traffic routes.”

The BBC contacted the ATF and the US Department of Interior Security for comment, but did not receive answers.

G -H Le Cour says international control of the problem has increased, but it has no apparent impact: “We know we have the diagnosis, we know what the symptoms are, but we do nothing to cure it actually.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Spencer, BBC Check

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