BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force has publicly confirmed that an internal administrative error is to blame for widespread public confusion over a recent shipment of 15 firearms and over 1,500 rounds of ammunition imported into the federation. The admission comes amid growing public backlash over law enforcement’s decision not to file criminal charges against the individuals linked to the shipment.
Earlier this July 2026, police first announced that customs officers had uncovered the cache of weapons and ammunition inside a shipping container at a private residence on the island of Nevis. The initial announcement quickly sparked public concern, and anxiety deepened when authorities confirmed no criminal charges would be pursued against the parties involved, leaving many community members questioning the decision.
During a recently held press conference, senior police officials laid out new details clarifying the sequence of events: the firearms are owned by retired North American law enforcement officers who are relocating to Nevis, and the group submitted a formal application for an import permit before the shipment ever arrived in the country.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Cromwell Henry told reporters that the application included every required document, but it was accidentally overlooked by police staff amid a surge of correspondence ahead of the annual St. Kitts Music Festival. “The visitors did send an application ahead of the weapons being shipped…we got an application via email requesting an import permit. There was an import permit that was submitted, a list of the firearms and their serial numbers, copies of their licences to keep those firearms in Canada, as well as their passport bio page,” Henry explained. “We missed it among the list of emails that we got,” he added, confirming the internal oversight.
In addition to the police error, Assistant Commissioner Travis Williams noted another breakdown in inter-agency communication: the shipment was properly declared to customs upon arrival, but customs officials never shared this information with the police force. “Customs knew that they were in the container before they opened the container. However, Customs did not relate that to us,” Williams said. This lack of communication led investigating officers to initially assume the firearms had been brought into the country illegally, as they had no knowledge of the pending permit application.
After a full review of the case, Williams said investigators found no evidence of criminal intent — a core requirement to file smuggling or other criminal charges against the individuals. “Because there was an attempt to inform us, to notify us, we could not prove that they had intended to smuggle them in. Smuggling requires an intent to evade the authorities, and we cannot establish that they wanted to evade the authorities when they had already sent a list of what they are bringing in to the authorities,” Williams explained.
While criminal charges have been ruled out, police confirmed that the retired officers did not complete the full required administrative process, as the import permit was never issued before the shipment arrived. As a result, the case has been transferred to the Customs and Excise Department for administrative action under the national Customs Act. “The law gives Customs that leeway to levy penalties for that violation. So we turned it over for Customs to deal with the persons under the Customs Act,” Williams said, adding that “because we could not prove intent, which is an important element of any crime, we leave Customs to deal with it administratively.”
As of the latest update, the firearms remain in police custody while customs officials conclude their administrative review of the case.
