Tiny British territory in row with US after arresting American holidaymakers

38 comments

1. People travel to country with different laws with illegal items in their luggage get arrested for said illegal items.

2. [removed]

3. >who threatened “additional actions” against the British-owned territory if it is not reversed.

   I think America lost any and all good will with any British territories when they protected the well known child murderer Anne Sacoolas.

4. Well, they should have thought of that before they declared independence.

   Lock ’em all up and throw away the keys.

5. I assume what’ll happen is they get something like time served and deported if it’s shown to be genuine ignorance/inadvertently only and nothing else like smuggling. They’re not going to get anything close to 12 years for that.

6. Shouldn’t the issue be why a tiny island (where presumably everyone knows each other) has such a high violent crime rate.

7. > “At this point, well-intentioned American citizens are facing a dozen years in prison all for unknowingly having one or two bullets in their luggage,” he said.

   Yes, that’s how laws work, including in the USA.

   Try flying into the US from from Amsterdam with marijuana and see how far “It was legal at my departure point” gets you.

8. Ahh, something Biden could start a war over to give his feeble election chances a shot in the arm. Nothing like a local war America might just win to invoke national pride

9. >the US government is protesting the tourists’ detention, arguing that more than a decade behind bars is too harsh a punishment for their alleged crimes.

   This is the same country that has mandatory minimum sentences for all sorts of things and put people in prison for a long time for very minor offences.

   Also the US own travel advice states very clearly what the rules are on these islands. [https://www.atf.gov/firearms/traveling-firearms](https://www.atf.gov/firearms/traveling-firearms)

   Its not hard to clear out your bag properly especially if its had stuff in it that anyone with a bit of sense would think may not be legal where they are going to.

10. Typical Americans think the law doesn’t apply to them…. I wonder if they would feel same if someone from Amsterdam brought a joint into US by mistake….

11. “Well-intentioned Americans” going hard with that

    > “Should they receive a prison sentence, we will need to consider additional actions to safeguard American citizens.”

    The actions needed here are telling American citizens not to travel with ammunition and to familiarise themselves with local laws.

    It’s not something easy to forget and minor like not knowing which side of the road they drove on. Bringing ammo into a country with strict gun controls is gonna get you in deep shit with the border control.

12. Interesting that one of the cases reported was identified whilst LEAVING the islands.

    So, we’ve no idea at this stage whether these rounds were genuinely forgotten about from a hunting trip, or were forgotten during a drop-off…

13. One of the criminals was sentenced recently. They got 8 months which is a really light sentence for a serious offence. I don’t think they have anything to complain about

14. I listened to a podcast on this only this weekend which interviewed the two guys mentioned in the article below.

    I do feel sorry for them, I am a hunter and I can see how this is easily done. Unload a rifle in the field and the rounds go into inner jacket pocket or rucksack compartment then missed then storing everything away back home. If you have hundreds of rounds of ammo you are not going to notice two or three are not where they should be. They are 100% in the wrong and it is very carless but also totally understandable how it happens.

    Whilst they could face a maximum of 12 years in jail, but one would imagine the judge would look at the circumstances and the intent and exercise some discretion in this case.

    What is slightly odd is that they were caught leaving the country with the ammo, rather than entering the country with it. Meaning that both airport in the USA and airport security and customs on entry into Turks and Caicos all missed it.

15. I’m not a lawyer but isn’t there a problem of precedent here, if TCI courts say ok it’s an accident you can go home, what will happen when someone has deliberately taken ammunition there and gets caught? Can they just say that it wasn’t deliberate so you have to let me go like you did for the people who did it last time?

16. Obey the law or get punished. Thems the rules, do a better job packing your bags next time.

17. Why the hell would anyone think taking bullets through an airport would end well?

18. You guys are taking this too seriously, he unknowingly had 4 bullets and no gun in the crevices of his bag, he didn’t go barging in and say “MAH SECOND AMENMENT RIGHTS ALLOW ME TO DO WHATEVER I WANT” and proceed to shoot around everywhere, it’s literally an honest mistake

19. the only good law is american law, we are all above any other law. we only get freedom and justice in america..for americans.

20. “Should they receive a prison sentence, we will need to consider additional actions to safeguard American citizens.”

    Yeah, like telling them not to take their bullets on holiday with them maybe. 🤦‍♂️

21. “Oh I forgot those were there” will be one of the most common excuses customs officers hear.

22. ‘Markwayne Mullin, a senator for Oklahoma, has led the delegation to bring the Americans home’. Markwayne… 💀

23. The only part of this I find concerning is that all 5 people were arrested and face prison when only one of them had the ammo in their bag. 

    I get why it works that way but it’s a scary thought when you think about it. I have no control over what the people I’m travelling with put in their bags. 

24. The laws are like this because it’s right next door to Haiti. I have no idea how someone can “forget” they have ammo on them though. It’s like going to the US and claiming the weed in your pocket didn’t matter.

25. Good, look the dumb yanks up they think they’re above the law anywhere in the world

26. I’d be intrigued to see the ratio of “bring them back” to “they knew what would happen”. After that black basketball star was arrested in Russia due to cannabis all the republicans were saying she should stay there and stand trial, I wonder if their minds will change because “uuhh 2a”.

27. What happened here?

    Bloody yanks thinking that they can do anything they want and other countries laws do not apply to them

    Which British territory did this take place in?

28. They shouldn’t have been able to board the aircraft ammunition in their luggage. Security failure at the American end. They can do one.

29. Meh. This is hardly a story. The tourists will have their hearing and be discharged and sent home for a silly mistake. The involvement of US politicians is likely overkill but will ensure that there isn’t an overzealous judge looking to make some point.

    Government officials often get involved in tourist mishaps, it wasn’t that long ago there was uproar because our government was perceived as not doing enough in the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case, probably rightly.

30. I’ve not read the comments but because I know the type of people who post on this website already know everyone will blindly be agreeing with the territory without actually applying any logic if its fair or reasonable for them to take this action.

    12 years in prison for accidentally carrying some bullets (no gun), including a grandmother being involved is scandalous and goes to show why you shouldn’t visit these backwards shitholes. It’s easy to virtue signal online but 12 years is an unbelievable amount of time from someone’s life for an act this minimal. Shocking stuff really and I hope the Americans are sent home.

31. Who do the Americans think they are? Oversight or not, that’s not a reasonable excuse of law. Who the fuck doesn’t realise they are carrying bullets? They broke that countries law and will now suffer the consequences, as anyone would do bringing illegal items into the USA. What is it with the yanks always poking their nose into other countries affairs.

32. We regular allow them to drive like twats and kill people then flee the country. But if they want someone extradited we just do it.

    Fat cunts.

33. “Should they receive a prison sentence, we will need to consider additional actions to safeguard American citizens.”

    ‘Release them or we’ll discover oil there.’

34. Americans seem to think they can do what they like wherever they go. They need to be taught a lesson. Genocide Joe does not determine the rules in other countries. Live ammunition is not normal in luggage in civilised countries, even if the US thinks its OK.

35. Twelve years seems a bit much. Confiscation of the bullets, a fine and a ban from ever setting foot in a British territory ever again sounds like a fair compromise. You’re not in prison, but we’re never dealing with you again.

36. honestly i am beginning to loathe americans and their exceptionalist bullshit. i am student immigration advisor for specifically US students. the amount of ignorance and entitlement i see just angers me constantly. i had to inform a bunch of new students recently that if they don’t adhere to the rules of their visa they will be forced to leave the U.K. this then caused a bunch of them to complain to their university back home in the US that i had ‘scared’ and ‘threatened’ them.

    fuck off you daft cunts. it’s the fucking law and i am warning you against the danger of NOT following the rules. makes me so fucking angry.

37. I saw this story. A woman had 2 bullets in her suitcase, and carrying guns or ammunition was made illegal in Turks & Caicos in 2022. If you break the law and get caught expect to be punished. Being American doesn’t exempt you from a country’s laws

38. I’m sure I’d be treated with similar leniency by the US if I “accidentally” brought bullets on a flight to Detroit.