A major source of illicit firearms in the Caribbean is the United States, trafficked through maritime cargo or postal parcels camouflaged with innocuous items.
“The trafficker simply needs to camouflage the items well enough to blend in with the thousands of shipments of other goods departing and arriving from international ports every day,” a study by Caricom IMPACS (Implementation Agency for Crime and Security) said in an April 2023 Caribbean Firearms study.
Recognising this, the Biden administration joined forces with Caricom to clamp down on weapons entering the region.
This partnership led to the establishment of the Caricom Crime Gun Intelligence Unit (CCGIU) aimed at fostering collaboration between regional law enforcement and agencies in the US including the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Bureau, Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection agencies.
In June 2023, the White House said the Biden-Harris administration reiterated the US commitment to disrupting firearms trafficking in the Caribbean by interdicting illicit shipments of firearms and ammunition and by holding offenders accountable and bringing them to justice.
A month later, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced to a gathering of regional leaders in Port of Spain the appointment of an experienced Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutor, Michael Ben’Ary, as the first co-ordinator for Caribbean firearms prosecutions. He is also a DOJ associate deputy attorney general (ADAG).
Ben’Ary was in Trinidad and Tobago from May 8-10.
[caption id="attachment_1082876" align="alignnone" width="1024"] - AYANNA KINSALE[/caption]
In a face-to-face interview with Sunday Newsday at the US Embassy’s offices in Port of Spain on May 9, he shared the US’s concern and focus.
“If we can take gun-trafficking networks out of play by investigating, identifying and prosecuting them, it will decrease the number of firearms leaving our shores and flooding your shores.”
While in Trinidad, he met with the CCIGU, based in Port of Spain, which he said was an “important resource in detecting and prosecuting the firearms trafficking networks in the US that are responsible for shipping weapons that end up in the hands of the wrong people here.”
While he clarified that he, as co-ordinator for Caribbean firearms prosecutions, did not investigate or prosecute cases, one of his main tasks is to contact federal prosecutors and regional partners that handle gun-trafficking investigations.
It was also his first visit to Caricom IMPACS, he said. Here, he met with Lt Col Michael Jones, IMPACS executive director.
In the April 2023 arms study, Jones admitted the region continued to grapple with “pervading gun violence.”
“The use and trafficking of illicit firearms by criminals is a serious national and regional problem. It impacts almost every Caribbean jurisdiction and affects the safety of our communities,” he said in his foreword.
Ben’Ary said a priority for the Biden-Harris administration was going after firearms-trafficking networks responsibl
