On a cargo ship loaded with rust-red shipping containers, the assault guns and pistols landed in Haiti hidden in two cardboard boxes, tucked away amid food and clothing bundles.
They had traveled from the US, which one analyst refers to as a “supermarket” that fuels gang warfare and has caused anarchy in the Caribbean Island nation.
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The two crates’ transit was followed by a BBC World Service and BBC Verify investigation, which demonstrated how US munitions end up in Haiti. It exposes a network of weak regulations, no oversight, and alleged corruption that traffickers use to get around a UN embargo.
In April 2024, Haitian authorities said that they had taken possession of the two boxes. They included 999 rounds of ammunition, 12 assault rifles, and 14 handguns.
Visible in a police photo are firearms made by two distinct US manufacturers.
The Rainer D cargo ship had transported the load from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Cap-Haïtien, northern Haiti, covering around 1,200 kilometers (746 miles).
According to a UN Panel of Experts that investigated the shipment and is responsible for keeping an eye on Haiti’s sanctions, the shipping container was packed at a Fort Lauderdale warehouse yard.
U.S.-based Haitians often send food and other necessities to their homeland.
The Miami Herald was informed by a guy called Anestin Predestin that he was renting out a room in the container in late February 2024.
He informed the newspaper that a guy who identified himself as “Diamortino” had placed two boxes with “clothes” inside, and he was surprised to discover later that they contained firearms.
The BBC was unable to get in touch with Mr. Predestin.
The location of the firearms’ purchase is unclear. Haiti does not produce firearms, and firearms purchased in Florida have been seized in the past.
Until 2024, Florida—sometimes known as the “gunshine state”- was one of about 30 states where private, unlicensed vendors were permitted to sell handguns, for instance, at gun fairs and online, without conducting background checks. Joe Biden strengthened these regulations nationwide while serving as president.
According to the UN panel, the weapons in the confiscated cargo were purchased by two Haitian brothers who were based in the US via “straw buyers”—people who made purchases on their behalf.
According to experts, this is a typical practice, known as “ant trafficking,” in which the firearms are frequently shipped in several small-quantity shipments.
According to Haitian authorities, Alliance International Shipping, a shipping business located in Florida, sent the container.
Although Alliance International Shipping does not own any ships that go to Haiti, it does purchase ship space and resells it to customers like Mr. Predestin.
Gregory Moraille, the company’s president, told the BBC that although it does not handle the goods directly, it does supply clients with empty containers.
He says, “Unfortunately, we have no viable means of preventing illicit shipments,” adding that the company works with the government and employs many Haitian workers.
“Tragically, many of our own families have been victims of gun violence in Haiti,” he stated.
The BBC did not hear back from US Customs and Border Protection when they asked if the consignment might have been inspected before it left the country.
Despite an increase in US inspections, “the vast majority of the 200 containers heading from South Florida to Haiti every week are not inspected,” according to a UN panel last September.
Bill Kullman, a former official with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), told the BBC that the number of shipments is “incredible” and that the inspections on outbound goods are “very scattershot.”
The guns were found after a “targeted search” of the crate, according to Haitian police.
A top Haitian customs official was detained and fired a few days after allegedly placing one of the weapons-containing crates in his car, the UN panel said.
According to police, they were looking for a guy named Wilmane Jean, who is listed as the shipment’s consignee, the person in charge of receiving it, in the customs records.
According to information obtained by the BBC from Haitian authorities, he is a customs broker who is wanted and suspected of being involved in gang activities in the country’s north.
According to a prior UN assessment, gang threats and attacks, senior official corruption, and a lack of capacity all affect Haitian customs operations.
An attempt by a well-known media outlet to get in touch with Haitian customs officials for comment was not successful.
Gang violence broke out in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, around the time the guns were loaded into the cargo container.
Severe gang violence in Haiti in 2024 resulted in major jail breakouts and airport and port blockades. After becoming trapped overseas, Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned. In addition to over a million people being displaced and half of the population experiencing severe famine, the UN reported a record 5,601 deaths that year. Extortion and kidnapping were commonplace. Wilson, a Port-au-Prince handyman who was wounded in the leg while escaping gang fighting and currently lives in a school-turned-shelter, was one of the victims.
“It was chaos, everyone was running from their homes,” he told reporters. “My leg stopped working. When I looked down, blood was pouring.”
He is currently residing at a school that is being utilized as a refuge with hundreds of other individuals.
Experts claim that authorities in Haiti are incapable of regaining control, even with assistance from international security organizations. According to Romain le Cour of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, gangs have increased their influence and now control at least 85% of the city. High-quality weapons, some verified to be US-made and others probably originating there as well, are regularly displayed online by gang members.
But according to Mr. Le Cour, ammo and firearms “keep on coming,” which is “a massive driver for violence and instability.”
To look into possible trafficking from the US to Haiti, the BBC examined customs data from CargoFax. They compared shipments to people who were detained for suspected arms trafficking or under sanctions for purported gang affiliations. Although it’s unclear if firearms were involved, 26 of these people were connected to 286 shipments over four years.
Prophane Victor, a former member of Haiti’s parliament who was later sanctioned by the US and the UN for supplying gangs and trafficking firearms, was listed 24 times as a consignee. In January, he was taken into custody in Haiti.
When asked, Is it possible to stop the traffickers? “First and foremost, US authorities are not doing enough,” Mr. Le Cour said.
Gun dealers are not required by law to notify questionable customers, according to Mr. Kullman, a former US officer at the ATF.
He thinks it is “really politically difficult to achieve” to change US gun regulations, but he would want to see a voluntary code of behavior for gun dealers that addresses things like exchanging information and selling to dubious purchasers.
Additionally, Mr. Kullman notes that gun registration, which is analogous to auto registration and is in effect in a few states, might be “really helpful” if it were implemented more extensively.
Gun manufacturers are informed when trafficked firearms are being investigated, and they are aware of which dealers are providing firearms to traffickers, according to Jonathan Lowy, president of Global Action on Gun Violence.
“Manufacturers cutting off these dealers would put an immediate stop to most trafficking routes from the US.”
The US Department of Homeland Security and ATF did not respond to the BBC’s requests for comment.
Mr. Le Cour claims that despite greater worldwide attention to the issue, no discernible change has occurred: “We know we have the diagnosis, we know what the symptoms are, but we’re not doing anything to actually cure it”.
