Ex-Police Staffer Gets 11+ Years for Firearms Import Scheme
A former administrative employee of the Cayman Islands police force will spend more than a decade in prison after pleading guilty to helping bring weapons and bullets into the territory.
Ex-Police Staffer Gets 11+ Years for Firearms Import Scheme
A man who once worked in an administrative capacity for the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service has been ordered to spend the next 11 years and eight months in prison for his part in a criminal operation that brought weapon components and large quantities of bullets into the territory.
Cayman News Service reported that Courtney Bush Myles Jr, aged 33, received his punishment on 18 June after admitting guilt last October to four separate offences. These included plotting to bring in firearms and their parts, keeping a weapon without authorisation, holding ammunition, and misusing his position as a public servant.
The territory's police force revealed that the network managed to bring in materials sufficient to build no fewer than 14 weapons. The cache of parts would have allowed assembly of seven semi-automatic pistols and seven assault-style rifles, along with upwards of 3,000 rounds of bullets.
Presiding judge Cheryll Richards delivered several individual sentences. She gave Myles four years and eight months for the conspiracy involving guns and their components, two years and four months for the ammunition smuggling plot, seven years for the unauthorised weapon, two years for the unauthorised bullets, and two years and seven months for the public office misconduct.
The judge ruled that the terms for the gun importation conspiracy and the illegal weapon possession must follow one another sequentially. This stacking produced the total of 11 years and eight months. Other sentences will run simultaneously, and time already spent in detention will reduce the overall period.
The matter first came to light during a separate shooting inquiry that began in mid-2022. While pursuing that case, detectives uncovered evidence pointing to a smuggling ring exploiting delivery services to move weapon pieces and bullets past border controls.
Investigators established that someone with previous employment at a shipping firm was leveraging his internal know-how to arrange the illegal deliveries. After apprehending this individual, authorities searched properties connected to him and his known contacts.
At one location belonging to Eddie Marlon Ebanks, police found a complete weapon. A subsequent search of Myles' own home yielded another gun plus additional bullets. Ballistic examination confirmed that the recovered weapons had been put together using components from the smuggled shipments.
Following his arrest, Myles was dismissed from his administrative post with the police service.
Ebanks had earlier admitted to possessing an illegal firearm and was sentenced to seven years — the least term the law allows — in late 2023. In September 2025, he also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges. This month, he received an extra 18 months to be added to his current sentence.
A third person implicated, Chanel Andrea Cranston, avoided imprisonment and was given a non-custodial penalty.
Police Commissioner Kurt Walton issued a strong statement about the case, saying those responsible displayed an "insatiable appetite for guns" and calling them "merchants of evil." He emphasised that the successful prosecution shows the force's unwavering determination to track down and bring to justice anyone involved in such destructive criminal activity.
The case carries significant concern for public safety, as authorities have only managed to recover two of the estimated 14 weapons that entered the territory. The remaining dozen firearms — including seven powerful assault-style rifles — plus substantial ammunition remain missing.
Source: Google News KY — Crime