CARICOM, US agencies agree on urgently tackling firearms trafficking

CARICOM Member States and representatives of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)) met via virtual conferencing on April 21st and agreed that firearms trafficking needs to be urgently tackled.

Minister of Home Affairs and current Chair of the Council for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) of CARICOM, Robeson Benn chaired the meeting.

A release from the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the meeting was attended by Ministers and Senior Representatives with responsibility for National Security of CARICOM Member States. The Executive Director of the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), Lieutenant Colonel Michael Jones was also in attendance.

The release said that firearms trafficking in CARICOM was reviewed and approaches to urgently deal with the issue and its related manifestations were agreed as follows:

- Implementation of the Regional Roadmap for Addressing Caribbean Priority Actions on the Illicit Proliferation of Firearms and Ammunition across the

Caribbean by 2030;

- Collaboration with regional bodies such as CARICOM IMPACS to facilitate training and capacity building for Member States;

- Collaboration with international stakeholders such as the ATF and HSI; and

- Optimizing the use of the Regional

Integrated Ballistic Information Network (RIBIN) and E-Trace.

The operationalization of the Caricom Gun Crime Intelligence Centre (CGIC)) was given high priority.

The release said that opportunities for training, intelligence gathering and sharing with the ATF and HSI were discussed along with the deployment of intelligence officials to and within the CARICOM Region.