Tracking weapons flow in the United States

The assault rifle and pistols arrived in Haiti and were hidden in two cardboard boxes and were located in a cargo ship with food, clothes packages and rust red shipping containers.

They came from the United States, and an expert described it as “supermarket” that feeds weapons races among gangs that brought chaos to the Caribbean island countries.

According to the BBC World Service and the BBC’s surveys, they traced the journey of two boxes to show how American weapons reach Haiti. It shows a suspected corruption without the checks used by the trafficker to bypass the UN gold water measures.

The IT police announced that they seized two boxes in April 2024. They included 12 assault rifles, 14 pistols and 999 ammunition cartridges.

Police photos clearly show the weapons of two US -based manufacturers.

This shipment traveled almost 1,200 km (746 miles) from Florida Port Loaderdale to CAP-HAITIEN in the northern Haiti of Rainer D cargo ship.

According to the UN expert panel, the pirate container was filled with the warehouse yards of the port loader, which monitored sanctions on Haiti and investigated the shipping.

The American Haiti often ships frequently needed food and other things.

Anstin predestin told Miami Herald that he was renting a container space at the end of February 2024.

He said in the newspaper that he put two boxes of “Diamortino” that he had two boxes saying that he had “clothes.”

The attempt to contact BBC’s Predestin failed.

It is not clear where the gun was purchased. The gun was not manufactured in Haiti, and the previous seizures contain guns purchased from Florida.

Florida was sometimes one of the 30 states called “Gunshine State.” By 2024, an individual unlicensed seller was one of the 30 states that could sell firearms online without checking the background. Joe Biden has strengthened this rules nationwide as president.

According to the United Nations panel, the two children headquartered in the United States have used the “straw buyer”, a personal purchaser on behalf of themselves to buy weapons in seized delivery.

Experts say this is a common way. Often, if the gun is transported to a small amount of shipping, it is a process called “ant Trafficing.”

Haiti police said the container was shipped by the Alliance International Shipping, a Florida -based transportation company.

Alliance International Shipping does not own ships traveling to Haiti, but buys a space of ships and sells them to customers like Predestin.

Gregory Moraille, chairman of the company, said in a statement on the BBC that it provides an empty container to customers but does not physically interact with the cargo.

“Unfortunately, we have no practical means to prevent illegal delivery,” he said.

“Tragically, many of our families were victims of firearms in Haiti,” he added.

The BBC did not receive a response by contacting US customs and border protection to ask if it was possible to check the shipment when leaving the United States.

The UN panel said in September that the US search has increased, but every week, the majority of 200 containers from South Florida to Haiti have not been inspected.

Bill Kullman said Bill Kullman, a former official of the US alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives (ATFs), said that the checks for cargoes on the BBC are “very spawned,” and the delivery volume is “unbelievable.”

Haiti police said they found weapons in the container’s “target search”.

According to the UN panel, a senior customs official was arrested and plundered a few days later after putting one of the boxes containing a weapon in his vehicle.

The police are looking for a person named Wilmane Jean, who is named who is named for shipment in customs data -it is a person who receives it.

The BBC is suspected of being a tariff broker, running and connected to the northern gang activity in Haiti’s sources.

According to the previous United Nations Report, Haiti’s tariffs are struggling with lack of capacity, corruption between high -ranking officials, and threats and attacks of gangs.

The BBC did not comment on the attempt to contact the Haiti Customs authorities.

When the weapon was wrapped in a shipment container at the time, the wave of gang violence swept the Forta Ur Prince.

The gang liberated thousands of prisoners from the main prison and blocked the port and airport of the capital.

In March 2024, Prime Minister Ariel Henry could not return from overseas travel.

According to the United Nations, 5,601 people were killed in 2024 in Haiti. These institutions say that almost one tenth of the population of more than a million people escaped the house and half of the population faced acute hunger. Kidnapping and robbery are difficult.

Port-Au-Prince’s Handy Wilson was shot on his legs as the gang ran away from his territory in his neighborhood.

The BBC said, “I was confused. Everyone was running at home.” “The legs have stopped working. I was bleeding when I looked down.”

He lives with hundreds of others in schools currently used as a shelter.

Experts say that despite the support of international security troops, including at least 800 Kenya police officers, the authorities are not able to regain control.

The gang has been in the territory for the last six months and has controlled more than 85% of its current capital, saying, Romain Le Cour, a global initiative expert in the NGO, headquartered in Geneva.

Gang members often poses in social media with fixed weapons. Experts said some guns on the BBC were clearly manufactured in the United States and other guns are likely to be manufactured there.

But guns and ammunition say “keep coming,” Le Cour says “a large driver of violence and instability.”

The BBC analyzed the customs data shared by the transportation data platform Cargofax to investigate the potential of the US Traficking using similar shipping paths.

We have edited a list of personal lists that are currently being sanctioned for Haiti’s gang connections and other people who are arrested as a weapon trafficker in Haiti or in the United States.

We have confirmed this name for the shipping record from the United States for four years.

A total of 286 people were nominated for 286 shipments, and were selected as shipments that occurred before individual sanctions or arrests. It is not clear whether this ship contains weapons.

Listed as 24 trustees, PRHONANE VICTOR was later prophet Victor, a member of the Haiti parliament under the US sanctions on the UN, armed gangs and human trafficking weapons. He was arrested in Haiti in January.

Le Cour said, “The first US authorities are not enough.”

ATF’s former US official, Kullman, said the dealer had no legal obligations to report suspicious buyers.

He said that the change in the US gun law is “actually difficult to achieve politically,” but he wants to see a voluntary behavior of a gun seller who deals with suspicious buyers and information sharing.

In addition, gun registration similar to automobile registration is located in several states, and if it is adopted more extensively, it can be “really helpful.”

Jonathan Lowy, chairman of the global action on firearms, knows the firearm manufacturer is investigating a trafficking gun and knows which dealers are selling guns to Trafickers, gunmakers said.

“Manufacturers that cut this dealer will immediately stop most of the US trafficking routes.”

The BBC presented the ATF and the US Department of Homeland Security, but did not receive a response.

Le Cour says that international investigations on the problem have increased, but there is no noticeable effect. “We know that there is a diagnosis and I know what the symptoms are, but we do nothing to treat it.”

Thomas Spencer, additional report of BBC Verife

Daniel Arce-López, Jake Friend, Kate Gaynor, Gerry Fletcher and Caroline Souza Graphics