Smuggler paradise: How US guns dey enta Haiti wia gangs full

Di assault rifles and pistols enta Haiti inside two cardboard boxes between packages of food and clothes for one cargo ship wey get rust red shipping containers.

Dem dey come from di US, for wetin one sabi pesin call "supermarket" wey dey feed arms race among di gangs wey don bring ogbonge kasala to di Caribbean island nation.

Investigation wey di BBC World Serivice and BBC Verify do trace di two boxes waka, to show how weapons from di US dey enta Haiti. E show chain of loose laws, absent checks and suspected corruption wey traffickers dey use take dodge UN embargo.

Di seizure

Haitian police bin announce for April 2024 say dem seize di two boxes. Dem bin get 12 assault rifles, 14 pistols and 999 ammunition cartridges.

One police picture show weapons from two different US based manufacturers clearly.

Di shipment bin travel almost 1,200km (746 miles) for Fort Lauderdale for Florida go Cap-Haitien for northern Haiti. E bin come through di Rainer D cargo ship.

Dem bin load di shipping container for one warehouse yard wey dey for Fort Lauderdale. Dis na according to one UN Panel of Experts wey dia work na to monitor di sanctions on Haiti and wey bin investigate di shipment.

Haitians for di US dey normally ship food wey pipo need and oda tins go di kontri.

One man wey dem dey call Anestin Predestin tell di Miami Herald say for late February 2024, e bin dey rent space for di container.

E tell di newspaper say one man wey tell am say im name na "Diamortino" na im put di boces say na clothes dey inside and e shock am wen e hear later say na weapons bin dey dia.

BBC try to contact oga Predestin but e no work.

E no clear wia dem take buy di guns from. Dem no dey make guns for Haiti and seizures wey dem bin don seize bifor get guns wey dem buy for Florida.

Florida wey pipo dey sometimes call di "gunshine state" na one of 30 states wia till 2024, private unlicenced sells fit sell firearms for gunshows, online and oda places witout say dem do background checks. Joe Biden use im time as president take tighten di rules nationwide.

Di UN panel say two Haitian brodas wey dey stay US bin use "straw buyers" wey be pipo wey go buy give dem, to buy di weapons for di seized shipment.

Sabi say dis method dey common and dem normally dey transport di guns for many shipments small-small. Dis na process wey dem dey call "ant trafficking".

Shipping

Haitian police say na di Florida-based shipping company Alliance International Shipping bin transport di container.

Alliance International Shipping no own di vessels wey dey travel go Haiti but dem dey buy space for ships and come sell am give clients like oga Predestin.

Di company president, Gregory Moraille tok for inside statement to di BBC say e dey give empty containers to customers but e no dey physically interact wit di cargo.

E tok say, "unfortunately we no get beta means to prevent illicit shipments" even as im add say di company dey co-operate wit authorities and many of dia workers come from Haiti.

E add say, "tragically, many of our own families na victims of gun violence for Haiti."

Leaving di US

Di BBC contact US Customs and Border Protection to ask weda dem for check di shipment as e comot di US, but dem no respond.

Di UN panel last September say US searches don increase but "most of di 200 containers wey dey go from South Florida to Haiti evri week no dey inspected".

One former official wey dey work wit di US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Bill Kullman tell BBC say checks for di outgoing cargo dey "very anyhow" and di volume of shipments plenti well-well.

Arriving in Haiti

Haitian police say dem find weapons for "targeted search" of di container.

According to di UN panel, one senior Haitian customs official bin carry one of di boxes wey get di weapons for im motor but dem arrest and sack am some days later.

Police say dem bin dey find one man called Willmane Jean wey dem name for di customs data say na di pesin wey suppose recieve di shipment.

Di BBC hear from sources for Haiti say e be customs broker wey don run and dey suspected say e get connection wit gang activity for di north of di kontri.

One former UN report say Haitian customs operations no get beta capacity, and corruption dey among senior officials and dey get threats and attacks from gangs.

BBC try contact Haitian customs authorities for comment but e no work.

Di power of di gangs

Around di time wey dem dey pack di weapons inside shipping container. kasala by gangs bin burst for di Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

Gangs free thousands of inmates comot di main prison and block di kontri ports and arport.

For March 2024, Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down from office afta e no see way to come back from overseas trip.

Record number of 5,601 pipo bin dey killed for gang violence for Haiti for 2024, according to di UN. Dia agencies say ova one million pipo don run comot di kontri and half of di population dey face ogbonge hunger. Kidnapping and extortion don turn oga.

Dem shoot Wilson, wey be a handyman from Port-au-Prince, for leg as e bin dey try run as gangs dey fight over territory for im area.

E tell di BBC say, "na serious kasala, everibodi just dey run from dia houses. My leg stop to dey work, wen I look down, na so blood just dey pour comot".

E dey live for school wey dem dey use as shelter wit hundreds of oda pipo.

Sabi pipo say di authorities hand neva big reach wia dem fit take back control even though international security force wey include at least 800 Kenyan police officers don add support.

Di gangs don gain territory in di past six months and now dem dey control at least 85% of di capital. Dis na according to Romain le Cour, a Haiti expert for di Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, an NGO wit headquarters for Geneva.

Gang members dey normally pose for social media wit high-calibre weapons. Sabi pipo tell di BBC say some of di guns wey dem display bin dey made for di US and for di odas, e dey likely say, na from dia dem make dem too.

But guns and ammunition, still dey come wey be "massive driver for violence and instability", na wetin oga Le Cour tok.

Hundreds of shipments

To investigate how much di trafficking from di US using similar shipping routes. Di BBC analyse customs data wey di shipping data platform CargoFax share wit us.

We combine di list of pipo wey dey currently under sanctions ontop accuse say dem get gang connections for Haiti and odas wey dey arrested for Haiti and di US say dem be suspected arms traffickers.

We check dia names wit thousands of records of shipments from di US to Haiti in four years.

In total, 26 pipo on di list non dey named as consignees for 286 shipments, wey happun bifor dem arrest di pipo or put dem for sanctions. E no clear weda dis shipments get weapons.

Prophane Victor wey be former member of Haiti parliament bin dey listed 24 times as consignee. Dem later put am under UN and US sanctions for arming gangs and trafficking weapons. Dem arrest am for Haiti in January.

Di traffickers fit dey stopped?

Oga Le Cour tok say, "first of all, US authorities no dey do enof."

Oga Kullman, wey be di former US official for di ATF say e no dey legally necessary for gun dealers to report suspicious buyers.

Changes to US gun laws dey "very politically difficult to achieve" but e wan see dem bring voluntary code of conduct for firearms sellers wey go cover tins like sales to suspicious buyers and information sharing.

Oga Kullman add say gun registration like car registration wey don already dey for few states, make e dey done more widely, say e go dey helpful.

Jonathan Lowy, president of Global Action on Gun Violence, say dem dey tell gun makers wen trafficked guns dey under investigation and dem sabi which dealers dey sell guns give traffickers.

"If manufacturers cut off those dealers e go put immediate stop to most of di trafficking routes from di US."

Di BBC bin contact di ATF and the US Department for Homeland Security but no get any responses.

Oga Le Cour say internationally dem don dey torchlight di problem more but e neva really change anytin, E say, "we know di diagnosis, we know wetin di symptoms be, but we no dey do anytin to actually cure am".

Additional reporting by Thomas Spencer, BBC Verify

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