Haitian gang 400 Mawozo used more than 900,000 ammunition rounds stolen from Dominican police
A UN report reveals that 908,001 ammunition rounds from the Dominican National Police were diverted to armed gangs in Haiti. Corrupt agents from the military and police are identified as responsible.
UN report links Dominican police ammunition to 400 Mawozo gang in Haiti
The Haitian gang 400 Mawozo and other armed groups based in Port-au-Prince operated with ammunition from state reserves in the Dominican Republic, including 908,001 units stolen from the National Police. This is established by a report from the Expert Group of the UN Security Council Committee on Haiti, released by infobae.com based on a document presented on 24 July 2026 and examined on 3 September.
The report attributes the diversion to "corrupt agents from the Dominican police and armed forces". Analysis of cartridges seized from 400 Mawozo in 2026 confirmed that at least 15 of 32 .50 calibre ammunition rounds documented had been manufactured in the Dominican Republic. Wilson Joseph, alias "Lanmo San Jou", identified as leader of the gang, had posted videos on social media displaying that type of projectile, identifiable by their yellow tip.
Composition of diverted arsenal
Of the total ammunition extracted from the National Police, experts counted more than 489,000 rounds of 9 mm, 230,000 of 5.56 x 45 mm calibre, 26,000 of 7.62 x 39 mm and 93,000 shotgun shells. Dominican ammunition was also detected among criminal groups in the Bel-Air neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince.
Dominican security specialists explained to the Expert Group that the local market for 5.56 x 45 mm and 7.62 x 39 mm calibre ammunition is limited, and therefore considered it likely that most of this material had reached Haiti, where both calibres are among those most used by armed gangs. The ammunition would have been sold in border areas.
Detainees and prosecuted in Dominican Republic
Dominican authorities received information from the international body, carried out an inventory of police reserves and proceeded to detain several agents, although the report did not specify their identities or the exact number arrested.
The National Police had warned in October 2024 that members of the institution were part of a network dedicated to extracting ammunition from their depots to sell it privately. Colonel Narciso Antonio Féliz Romero, former head of the Arms Intendancy, and Captain Nelson Valdez, who headed the Arms, Ammunition and Equipment Depot, are being tried in connection with that case. Víctor Manuel Santos Rodríguez, Juan Luis Díaz Medina, Ángel Rubiel Martínez Bacilio and Morelbin Medina Pérez also face judicial proceedings. Marino Antonio Rodríguez Toribio was sentenced to five years in prison under house arrest, while the company Tactical Accessories RH, S.R.L. was permanently closed.
Army ammunition also appeared in seizures
The report also identified ammunition marked with the initials ERD, corresponding to the Dominican Republic Armed Forces, among material allegedly trafficked by members of the armed forces. Some of those cartridges were located in a seizure carried out in February 2026.
In December 2025, Dominican authorities detained an ERD lieutenant and a Haitian citizen in San Juan de la Maguana who were transporting 1,516 cartridges on a motorcycle. According to the report, the ammunition had been acquired in 2022.
Experts made two trace requests to Dominican authorities regarding the .50 calibre cartridges linked to 400 Mawozo. In response they received photographs of ammunition manufactured by the Armoury of the Armed Forces in San Cristóbal between the 1950s and 1960s. Authorities stated that the surplus was in the process of destruction and that they had not detected any diversion.
Source: Google News DO — Crime