T & C - Check your luggage!

[AggieDiver]

The worst thing this guy could do is start lying and telling T & C that he’s doing them a favor. He needs to just STFU other than to say he’s sorry.and hope that the powers that be have some common sense in dealing out his punishment.

Agreed. My comment was meant tongue in cheek. It was more a comment that if their law was intended to stop people from importing ammunition, then they should be checking for it on the way in, not the way out. Hopefully common sense will prevail, but who knows. They went through the same thing a few years back in the Caymans and it happened enough times over a short period of time that there was some speculation on whether somebody at the airport was planting it. Doesn't seem to be the case with the T&C incident.

 

[tursiops]

New info fom his father, posted by he VCDL:

Tyler, who serves a rural Virginia community as a paramedic, is a family man and a father of a 1-½ year old. Tyler was traveling to Grand Turk with his friends for a bachelor party. Tyler flew from Virginia to Florida where he boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with no issue and arrived at Grand Turk on Saturday 4/20. After spending time on the island, upon re-boarding the ship, customs found two stray 9mm rounds of ammunition in the bottom of his backpack unknowingly left there from a past target shooting event. The ammunition was not detected by the TSA when he went through security at the Richmond, Virginia airport nor was it detected when he went through security while boarding the Royal Caribbean ship.​

 

[Marie13]

New info fom his father, posted by he VCDL:

Tyler, who serves a rural Virginia community as a paramedic, is a family man and a father of a 1-½ year old. Tyler was traveling to Grand Turk with his friends for a bachelor party. Tyler flew from Virginia to Florida where he boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with no issue and arrived at Grand Turk on Saturday 4/20. After spending time on the island, upon re-boarding the ship, customs found two stray 9mm rounds of ammunition in the bottom of his backpack unknowingly left there from a past target shooting event. The ammunition was not detected by the TSA when he went through security at the Richmond, Virginia airport nor was it detected when he went through security while boarding the Royal Caribbean ship.​

Yep. Totally on him for using his range bag for traveling. Don’t do that!

 

[tursiops]

Yep. Totally on him for using his range bag for traveling. Don’t do that!

Even if no rounds are in your range bag, it is likely to set off the gunpowder swabs....

 

[Marie13]

Even if no rounds are in your range bag, it is likely to set off the gunpowder swabs....

Hell, the TSA muppets tested my regs for explosives on the way to MX two years ago.

But seriously, if you’re a shooter who uses the same bag for range trips and traveling, you’re an idiot.

 

[AggieDiver]

Even if no rounds are in your range bag, it is likely to set off the gunpowder swabs....

I got lucky with that a few years ago on the way to LC. I had been working out at a DoD site where we were excavating TNT and DNT contaminated soil. I spent about a week on site coordinating waste manifests for loaded trucks, sitting in my truck working on my laptop surrounded by dust from the truck traffic and the excavators. I realized that the backpack I had out there could be contaminated with trace TNT from the dust, so I bought a brand new backpack to use for airline travel. At the last minute before we left on our trip to LC a few weeks later, some work stuff came up and I had to pack along my work laptop. We get to GC and as we are going through security for the flight over to LC, guess what security randomly selects to swab? Yep...my work laptop. I spent about 2 minutes sweating and wondering who I could have them call from the Caymans on a Sunday that would be willing to pickup the call and verify my story. Turns out it was all for naught as the swab came back clean.

 

[LI-er]

4 men have been arrested, 3 in the last month and 1 last year, all have upcoming sentencing hearings. The judges can consider exceptional circumstances and impose less than the expected 12 year prison sentence.

I can't even imagine what these guys are going through. Young kids, relatively new marriages and if they do over a decade in prison their lives will never be the same. All because of a stupid mistake.

 

[Cornellxc]

We now have 5, yes five, tourists currently awaiting trial/sentencing for having ammo found in luggage. Checking your bag for any dumb **** you left in it before crossing a border has always been a good idea. I'd even say and integral part of traveling. Thinking that bullets in a bag are an honest oversight and no big deal is uniquely American.

To the guy that used the term "piss ant islands" because they don't follow your laws. Stay home, stay safe. That attitude is everything wrong with Americans overseas imo. The diving is great in TCI right now, maybe the airport will be a little less crowded.

 

[Allen-1]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/24/americas/turks-and-caicos-ammunition-american-sentencing/index.html

A fourth American, Ryan Tyler Watson, will have a hearing next Tuesday to determine if he will enter a plea or go to trial, Smith said.

EDITED to add, (from same linked article):
And US citizens are not being targeted, Turks and Caicos officials said. Of the 195 people sentenced for firearm-related offenses over the past six years, only seven were US citizens, Misick said Thursday. No US citizen has received the 12-year sentence to date.

 

[LI-er]

Thanks for posting the update I've been following this situation with morbid curiousity. It appears they're going to get a big break.