Caption: Firearms and ammunition that was concealed in punching bags to be smuggled into T&T. Photo courtesy the US Embassy
By Alicia Chamely
A Trinidad and Tobago national pleads guilty to smuggling firearms and ammunition from Florida to T&T.
On Friday, the Embassy of the United States of America issued a press release stating that T&T national Shem Wayne Alexander, 35, had pled guilty to conspiracy to smuggle firearms from the US to T&T.
Alexander, who now faces five years in federal prison, was arrest in Jamaica on November 15, 2024 and was extradited to the US on December 20, 2024.
According to the release between April 2019 and April 2022, Alexander and his co-conspirators “unlawfully exported firearms, firearm components, and ammunition from Florida to T&T.”
The release stated, “On April 21, 2021, officers from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and Customs and Excise Division seized a shipment at Piarco International Airport containing two punching bags. Concealed within the punching bags were multiple pistols, revolvers, a shotgun, AR-15 components, magazines, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”
The Embassy said, “Playing key cooperating roles and critical to Alexander’s arrest and extradition were TTPS’s Transnational Organized Crime Unit and Special Investigations Unit, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Jamaica Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Jamaica Ministry of National Security.”
Noting that the case was a part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force programme, U.S. Embassy Port of Spain Chargé d’Affaires Charlie J. Franta III said, “Illegal firearms trafficking fuels violence and undermines security across our region. The successful prosecution of this case is a direct result of the strong partnership between the U.S., Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaican law enforcement. Our nations remain committed to dismantling the transnational criminal networks that threaten the safety of our citizens.”
