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Jamaica and Haiti Swap Drugs and Guns

InSight Crime

30 August 2022

By Seth Robbins

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Boats loaded with up to 3,000 pounds of cannabis take off from Jamaica's coastline, speeding across the Caribbean to nearby Haiti, where the drugs are swapped for handguns and high-powered assault weapons. The boats return with the firearms, which are then sold off piecemeal or in bulk.

(…) Each month, between 150 to 200 firearms are smuggled from Haiti into Jamaica, Anthony Clayton, a security expert and professor at the University of the West Indies, told InSight Crime. To procure the weapons, Jamaican crime groups mostly swap marijuana and, to a lesser extent, cocaine. Meat from stolen cattle, pigs and goats has also been increasingly bartered for firearms.

Clayton said about 20 different criminal organizations are currently involved in the trade, down from a high of 45. A smuggled handgun sells for 100,000 Jamaican dollars (about $700), and assault rifles for much more. Some ammunition is also sourced from Haiti.

He estimated that the illegal weapons trade between Jamaican and Haiti is worth about $1.3 to $1.7 million.

Haiti is not the only source for illegal weapons in Jamaica. US weapons are also smuggled through the country's ports, hidden among other goods.

ID: N886

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