File photo: Firearms and ammunition that was concealed in punching bags to be smuggled into T&T in September 2025. Photo courtesy the US Embassy
By Alicia Chamely
EIGHT-ONE percent of all firearms seized between 2021 and 2024 in Trinidad and Tobago originated in the United States.
And Broward County, Florida, was the origin point for 20% of firearms trafficked from the US into the Caribbean.
These findings were presented by US-based senior researcher Matt Schroeder at Tuesday’s launch of The Pathway Project’s publication “Pathway to Policy: Illicit Firearms and Public Health in the Caribbean” held at the AST Multipurpose Conference Room at the Ministry of Health, Port of Spain.
The “Pathway to Policy: Illicit Firearms and Public Health in the Caribbean” was joint publication aimed at providing critical insights into firearms-related issues in the Caribbean, offering a data-driven and policy-relevant assessment of the scope and scale of illicit firearms and ammunition flows in the region, the medical costs of firearm violence, and the emerging public health implications of firearm use.
The goal of the study was to help guide Caribbean lawmakers and law enforcement on developing policies to combat the proliferation of firearm related crime and treat the issue as a public health crisis.
Schroeder in the report stated that, “New data on illicit firearms in the Caribbean is improving understanding of the types of weapons in the region, the sources of illicit weapons and the mechanics of trafficking.”
Figures presented by Schroeder, showed that between 2017 to 2020, 70% or 198, of all 282 successfully traced illegal firearms were sourced from the US.
The figure rises for the period 2021 to 2024, with 81% or 347, of all 428 successfully traced illegal firearms sourced from the US.
Referencing statistics from INTERPOL, Schroeder noted that between 2019-2024, 53% of traced illicit firearms and ammunition in the Caribbean was sourced from the US, with 28% originating in South America and 4% in Central America.
Schroeder noted that for the period 2021-2024 “almost 70% of all successfully traced firearms seized in the six Caribbean states (inclusive of T&T) for which data is available came from Florida and Georgia.
Statistics showed that for the same period, 20% of all seized and traced firearms in the Caribbean originated in Broward Country, Florida.
Discussing the types of weapons, Schroeder’s data showed a considerable jump in the seizure of AR and AK-pattern rifles from US outbound shipments to the Caribbean.
He noted, “AK-pattern rifles among firearms seized from Caribbean-bound shipments rose from 1% in 2017 to 2020, to 11% just three years later (2021-2024)”
Concluding, he stated currently data revealed that handguns accounted for most firearms seized in the region, however there was an increase in high powered weapons being trafficked into the Caribbean.
In recommending policy to stem the trafficking of weapons through the nations ports, Schroeder noted more had to be done in terms of scanning incoming cargo, referencing the Dominican Republic, which scans 100% of all incomings with modern scanners.
Schoder stated, “This approach has the potential to reduce trafficking in not only firearms but other contraband, including narcotics, especially when combined with increased regional intelligence sharing, stronger regulations on courier services and other shipping entities, and more training on weapons identification and tracing for local law enforcement.”
