Turks and Caicos arrests more American passengers with ammunition in luggage

Given the global publicity in the wake of the recent arrests of several Americans with ammunition in their luggage in the British dependency of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), one would have assumed that visitors to the Caribbean island would thoroughly search their bags when traveling there.

But authorities there have arrested two people in the past week, one with a full box of handgun ammunition as they were attempting to leave the main island of Providenciales. The man with the box was identified as Madjido Mbary Abdel Karim of The Central African Republic with a Florida driver’s license. The second arrestee is Jamaican David Creavy of Texas.

The TCI has made global news in recent months not only because of the arrests of at least seven Americans with ammunition in travel bags but also because anyone who is found with such and is convicted by a court must serve a mandatory 12-year sentence, no matter if it is a single round or a bag full.

Most of those nabbed at airports said they were unaware that the ammunition was in their possession, pointing to the fact that these were small amounts, in most cases less than half a dozen rounds according to the Sun newspaper. Those who pleaded guilty in recent months are Sharitta Grier of Florida, Bryan Hagerich of Pennsylvania, Michael Lee Evans, of Texas, Ryan Tyler Watson, of Oklahoma and Tyler Wenrich of Virginia. They were all allowed to return home not only because of interventions from Congressional representatives but because of the outcry from locals that the mandatory 12 years had represented a sentence and punishment that were way too draconian as no weapons were confiscated. Grier was among the last to be freed.

The result is that authorities are now moving to amend the legislation to made it more reasonable and have dished out suspended sentences to most of those arrested and placed before courts this year.

But more importantly, the fact that TCI authorities have detected the ammunition while the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has not has triggered a massive investigation as to how such lapses could have occurred. The probe was launched in May just around the time when congressional representatives were intervening for the Americans. The Sun says the TSA has promised to tighten up monitoring of bags passing through its detectors.

“TSA is very confident in its ability to detect dangerous prohibited items at security check points. TSA continuously seeks to improve internal security within the secure area beyond the checkpoint, ensuring that everyone beyond the TSA checkpoint is safe from prohibited items, including unauthorized weapons, explosives and incendiaries,” a release stated.