BRIDGETOWN, Barbados -- Barbados seized two shipments of guns destined for Caribbean police departments that were scheduled to pass through the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. ambassador said Monday.
The Associated PressA shipment confiscated in January contained 24 handguns and one seized in August contained an automatic rifle and nine shotguns, U.S. Ambassador Mary Kramer said. They were destined for the police departments of St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, she said.
The Barbados Defense Force confiscated the weapons because of a "mistake we won't make again," Kramer said in an interview.
The seven members of the Caribbean's Regional Security System purchase weapons for their police departments from the United States through a U.S. government program, but local governments do not pay for transport.
The arms supplier failed to notify the U.S. Embassy it was shipping the weapons, which were unloaded before the embassy could ask the government for permission, Kramer said.
She met with Barbados officials last week and explained what happened. "We have suggested a process so mistakes will not be made again," the ambassador said.
From now on, U.S. soldiers in Barbados will examine arriving commissary planes. If weapons arrive without prior notification, they will not be unloaded, she said.
The two arms shipments are still held by Barbados, Kramer said. It was not clear when they would be released and Foreign Ministry officials were not available for comment.
Kramer said she was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Oct. 4.
"It was like going to the principal's office to be scolded," she said. "Our relationship with the Barbados government has been excellent. I am bewildered. Maybe something else is going on."
