Customs reveals gun seizure
(CNS): Government officials have now revealed, two weeks after the incident, that customs officers discovered an unlicensed handgun in a woman’s baggage as she entered the Cayman Islands last month. HM Customs is now investigating the circumstances surrounding the recovery after the weapon was discovered on 20 May. The 23-year-old female passenger was arrested by Customs Officers on arrival at the Owen Roberts International Airport from Miami for the importation and possession of an unlicensed firearm and accessories. The woman had been selected for her baggage to be x-rayed, and during the x-ray an object that appeared to be a firearm part was detected.
Following a physical search of her bag, officers found various firearm parts, which when assembled revealed a completed .45 calibre handgun. The firearm accessories that were discovered included a gun holster, rifle scope and a firearm cleaning kit.
Aside from the late revelation, officials offered no further details relating to the woman’s nationality, her place of residence if it was not Cayman, or if she is currently in custody or has been released on bail.
Category: Crime
No winning against ignorance.
Perhaps the screeners in the US just missed it. Human error is possilbe, afterall Miami isn't a Timbuktu airport, I am sure they scan thousands upon thousands bags daily. Moreover, it is legal to have a gun (in the US) if it is in your CHECKED baggage. So perhaps they saw the gun in the US and then let it go by without checking where it was destined to.
I guess what puzzles me is that I didn't know customs was x-raying bags coming in. I thought they only did that when they left. That is good though, hopefully they do x-ray more bags.
My guess is that the US did see the gun in her checked bags, and then notified authorities here in Cayman. Afterall, why should the US be responsible for telling you that what you are doing is going to be legal/not legal in another country.
I think everyone is thinking it was in her carry on, but in fact it was in her checked bags.
There are certain regulations for transporting firearms in checked baggage on an aircraft.if this gun was indeed disassembled and scattered throughtout the bag then it is most likely that the X-ray screener did not detect it. If it was detected it would have been pulled for search immediately. Not let it pass and just alert customs here in cayman as earlier suggested. At that point the screener would be held liable if anything happened to the aircraft due to letting an improperly packed firearm on board. However was this a tip off? Possible I would say. Only time can tell..
Dont know where you get your facts, but TSA can allow the luggage to go through if it was checked and wait till it has been cleared in the other country, tipping off the country it is destined to. It doesn't state she was carrying on her, it states it was in her luggage.
this was detected in the US and customs here was informed. In Miami, the moments between checking in luggage and them being put on the airlines they are scanned through x-ray machines. XXXX
Doesn't sound like a criminal to me. Just somebody that wants to protect herself.
You're an idiot.
I have paid for an IQ Test for you – just go to the psychiatric ward and tell them St Peter sent you…
Your intelligent comment and witty dialogue, clearly display all the well considered rantings, of a certain foot shooting Scottsman……..come on, reveal yourself, we can arrange help
Also to be noted there was a recent significant change in leadership at the HM Customs Airport a no nonsense lady who ran the container depot is now incharge ,alot of the foolishness that was going on up at the airport is no doubt going to stop now! Somebody at Customs Headquarters is on the ball for once.
I think that the job was well done!
However, in the near future all bags should be x-rayed wheather it be here or in the states.you just never never know what you would find and you don’t want people to work your system….you need to work it and crime is an issue and guns is increasing illegally
Dig her up for more information, get to the buttom of this! We need tighter border control etc!
Caymanian
Congratulations to the Custom Officer even if it was a tip off. Many questions unanswered however. We would like at least the nationlaty and where she is from. In 2 weeks you had plemty time to investigate. We have been kept in the dark for the last 31/2 years or so now is time for transperency from all the different departments including Customs, immigration, and all those permit holders that are supposed to be liscensed such as plumbers, electricians, mobile car wash etc. The ones who hire them let them do other jobs and very often in an illegal manner. Time for task force for planning, tourism to have a real task force. Too many times people are hired with supposevly experiece but need to be trained by Caymanians and that includes retail operations. We have a right to know what is going in our Country (Cayman. Islands). I would like alll this to change and I say yes to a minimum wage. Canada (Quebec) IS MOVING UP TO $1O PER HOUR.
Big difference between here and Canada! They have a huge economy and if you don't work hard your a$$ gets fired, so they can afford it, everyone works hard-a small portion of Cayman people need to wake up and realise that minimum wage for sometimes showing up at work and doing what you are supposed too just ain't gonna make the grade…no one is entitled to anything, Caymanian or not, you have to earn it..
Caymanian's are not entitled to jobs, their entitled to a preference in the job selection process. Several expats feel entitled to not have to respect immigration rules. The immigration board feels entitled to not have to enforce it.
$10.00 eehh.. have you seen ths prices in Canada? ?? What can 10 dollars buy you now? A whole sandwich??
Seriously? Through Miami?!! How is that possible? Maybe she is a Federal agent of military. Please reveale her identity.
The same way that cocaine, marijuana, and other illegal substances get here, people would be surprised if they knew the amount of illegal things that make it here from MIAMI. Not everything that comes here washes ashore. The majority comes on boat, in containers or masked within items that’s shipped here and yes on aircraft large and small. Always remember where there’s a willthere’s a way. And it’s no way to completely eradicate illegal activity, all we can do is tightening up as much as we can and hope we catch the majority. Cause there’s no way to stop them all. Sad but True!
In every work place there are lazy people and they are those who do work very hard. Even if it was a tip or they found it on their own u should be thankful its off the street. The life that was saved could be yours. If you have payed any attention to the news in the past you will see that CUSTOMS has made many great seizures in fact maybe one of Caymans largest gun seizure if i remember correctly was 5 guns they recovered in a fridge with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Within the last few months they have also recovered several pounds of coaine. So instead of putting them down you should be thankful for the work they are doing. It sounds like maybe they charged you some heavy duty maybe u should have declared your goods.
Your examples are not the best. The guns in a fridge was the result of a tip off by the US authorities, and the cocaine washed up on a beach.
Good job custom officers! This is for the same reason why Civil Services should not shrink especially in these key areas. Just think what could have happened if this gun had hit the streets? So when the powers to be start decided to cut civil service employees they should start at the top I.e. Chief Officers. Btw if she had all the gun parts etc…..who was she going to get the bullets from? A gun is no good without bullets.
Good job??? What good job? If they didn't get a "tip" from the US I honestly don't think they would have made a bust on this one……as stated below from someone "the dream is over, you can wake up now" lol
Good job Customs.
So how did this get through the US airport security?
Which bank end of a horse let this woman pass through Miami airport and board a plane with a gun in her bag? Was this a CAL plane or some other carrier?
Good for the CI Customs officer who picking up on this.
Now tell us who she was and what we are doing with her. Too much hush-hush business going on. And what was she doing with a rifle scope?? Is she a hired gun? Scary woman, whoever she is.
X-ray machine is after baggage claim.
Typical that Customs department does not release any information regarding if the female has been like has she been arrested, out on bail, or the nationality. They seem to keep all of their information too hush hush. I wonder if they even share info with the RCIP or immigration dept (once again = disconnect )
From what I hear this search was as a result of a "tip off". Those customs officers are too busy on their phones and showing lack of professionalism to conduct a search and seizure on their own effort. I don't think they could search their way out of a pattie bag!
By the way can the new government officials finally appoint a Collector of Customs to run this department? As I recall its been over a year since the last one left! Something is terribly wrong when one of the most important boarder control departments doesn't have the Top Job filled. Who's actually running this place Mr. Manderson??????
I couldn’t agree more with respect to lack of info being published by authorities. I understand that certain specific info cannot be released before trial due to Articles set out in the ECHR that the UK signed up to (which in my opinion should be reformed or better still the UK withdraw altogether). IE the right to privacy & right to a fair trial, but surely, if the age and gender of the suspect can be released, why can’t the nationality or whether or not the suspect is a visitor or resident be disclosed? Oh yes, I seem to recall another Article in the ECHR that protects against discrimination. But surely revealing the age and gender of a suspect can also amount to discrimination? Here we go again. I wouldn’t be surprised if this case is eventually quashed due to the customs/immigration staff being unaware of the legal implications set out above, which by the way can lead to me and you paying (financially) for the “oversight” of the contents of the HRA 1998! Alternatively, we may not hear about this again, and it will be brushed under the carpet. I personally think that the new Goverment should produce a press release about this matter, and any future events, just for the sake of reassuring the public that FINALLY we have transparency.
How did she get on the plane? Also, her nationality is important. If she's local then she's smuggling and importing if she's not local then is she part of a wider group that is in Cayman for clandestine purposes?
Consiparacy theorists and inquiring minds want to know.
Ok everyone, now lets wake up from this dream. Do you really think by "some" unknown chance this woman was "supposively" picked randomly??? Really are you that gullible and believe this. She was allowed to carry the weapon in her bag from Miami, I am almost 100% sure Customs in the Cayman Islands was informed of this and "randomly" pulled her out…..now have you woken up yet????? Remember ongoing charges for the imporation of firearms into the cayman islands from Miami last year? I think the US knew about this already……