AP – U.S. investigators say they’ve seen an uptick in the quantity and caliber of weapons being smuggled from Florida to Haiti in latest months.
Anthony Salisbury, chief of the Miami Homeland Security Investigations workplace, stated brokers are growing their efforts to cease the trafficking, noting rising gang violence round Haiti’s capital.
Salisbury stated the weapons seized embody a .50 caliber sniper rifle that navy snipers use and different machine weapons not often seen. Agents have seen a rise in caliber and quantity.
“It’s incredibly disturbing,” Salisbury instructed The Associated Press.
“In the incorrect palms, these weapons are succesful of inflicting an unlimited quantity of destruction.
In July, the U.N. Security Council unanimously authorized a decision renewing the mandate of a U.N. workplace in Haiti and calling on all nations to cease the switch of small arms, gentle weapons, and ammunition that could possibly be fueling gang violence.
Homeland Security Investigations stated it continues to examine the uptick.
The spike in violence comes as gangs develop in energy following the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
But the gang wars have intensified in the previous few weeks with gangs setting a church and a courthouse on hearth, amongst different steps.