US tourist fined $12,000 for 15 rounds of ammo found at Barbados airport
A North Carolina man was fined $12,000 after 15 ammunition rounds were found in his baggage as he prepared to leave Barbados. His lawyer questioned why scanners at multiple airports failed to detect them.
North Carolina man fined $12,000 after ammunition clears four airport scanners undetected
Barbados Today reports that an American tourist has been ordered to pay a $12,000 fine after 15 rounds of ammunition were discovered in his checked baggage at Grantley Adams International Airport as he prepared to depart the island.
Chadwick Jerome Wright, of Ledgerock Way, Durham, North Carolina, had travelled to Barbados with his wife to celebrate his 50th birthday. Airport personnel found the ammunition when scanning his luggage ahead of his return flight on October 14. Police were called, Wright was arrested and charged, and he spent approximately one month on remand at Dodds Prison before the matter was heard at the No. 3 Supreme Court.
Wright told the court that he had discovered the magazine containing ammunition only after checking in at the US airport before his outbound flight. He attempted to leave the terminal to secure the items in his vehicle, but airport staff told him this was unnecessary — he could travel with the ammunition provided it was stored in his checked baggage. He followed that advice.
Defence raises broader scanning concerns
Senior Counsel Andrew Pilgrim, representing Wright, used the sentencing submissions to raise wider questions about airport security. "How are these things going through a scanner in the US, going through a scanner in Barbados and not being picked up?" Pilgrim asked the court.
He noted that Wright's baggage had passed through two US airports, Panama's airport and Barbados's own airport without the ammunition being flagged on arrival. Pilgrim also pointed to a comparable recent case involving a man named Jackson Randall, who was arrested after security officers scanning checked luggage spotted a firearm in a black duffel bag bound for Miami.
"It seems strange to me that in one month, we have had five or six of these cases now," Pilgrim said. "There are more in the pipelines coming as we speak and for the last ten years we have had none like this. I am happy to know in Barbados that we are scanning at some point but it makes me wonder, are we not scanning inbound when it might be of greater concern."
Pilgrim urged the court to treat Wright's case as a genuine error. The ammunition had not been concealed, had not been used in any offence and had been recovered. Wright had made no attempt to hide it and had no prior convictions. "He had no intentions of running afoul of the laws of Barbados," Pilgrim said.
Prosecution sought five-year term before fine alternative
State Counsel Kwame Ramsay set out a starting point of ten years' imprisonment for the offence. He argued that mitigating factors — including Wright's early guilty plea, his lack of prior convictions, the unloaded state of the ammunition and the credible account of the advice he received — warranted reductions bringing the custodial sentence to five years and four months. Ramsay then proposed a fine of $15,000 as an alternative to imprisonment.
Judge finds circumstances "unfortunate" but stresses strict local law
Justice Carlisle Greaves acknowledged the advice Wright had received but was clear that US norms did not apply in Barbados. "That was some unfortunate advice that he unfortunately took. It may be A-OK to do so in the United States, where you can travel on an aircraft with ammunition from state to state. It is not so in these islands," he said.
The court noted that Wright held a valid firearms licence in the United States and that no evidence contradicted his account of events. Justice Greaves described Wright's explanation as "very plausible" and found no indication that he had intended to distribute or unlawfully possess the ammunition on the island. "He was on the way out when these events unfolded," the judge observed.
Greaves acknowledged that such cases required careful judicial scrutiny, given that travellers sometimes transport ammunition or firearm components for distribution — but said there was no evidence of that here. "This is an unfortunate circumstance that has happened to you… Mistakes can be made sometimes very innocently and I find some sympathy for you in these circumstances."
Referencing the month Wright had already spent at Dodds Prison, the judge also reiterated the importance of expediting cases in which defendants wished to enter guilty pleas to the Supreme Court level. He commended both the prosecution and defence for their handling of the matter.
Justice Greaves imposed a fine of $12,000, payable immediately, with five years' imprisonment as the alternative. "We may be small but we have to have strict laws when it comes to these things," he said. The fine was paid in full.
Source: Barbados Today