Shem Wayne Alexander, a 36-year-old from Port of Spain, Trinidad, was sentenced to four years and nine months in federal prison for conspiracy to smuggle firearms from the United States to Trinidad and Tobago. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge John L. Badalamenti. Alexander has also been ordered to forfeit the firearms seized during the offense after previously pleading guilty. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe.
Court records show that between April 2019 and April 2022, Alexander and his co-conspirators illegally exported more than 200 firearms, along with firearm components such as upper and lower receivers and gun parts kits, from Florida to Trinidad and Tobago.
On April 21, 2021, authorities in Trinidad and Tobago discovered a shipment at Piarco International Airport that had been sent from the United States labeled as “household items.” However, inside two punching bags were hidden firearms and related equipment including eleven 9mm pistols, two .38 caliber revolvers, a semi-automatic shotgun, AR-15 parts and magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, magazine couplers, and shotgun chokes.
The investigation involved multiple agencies: Homeland Security Investigations (including its Caribbean Attaché), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (Transnational Organized Crime Unit and Special Investigations Unit), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Commerce Office of Export Enforcement. Support for Alexander’s extradition came from the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs as well as Jamaican law enforcement authorities. Assistant United States Attorney Adam W. McCall prosecuted the case.
“This case highlights cooperation among international law enforcement partners,” said Gregory W. Kehoe.
