- 25 Apr 2024 06:40
#15313402
A man from Oklahoma (United States) who travelled on vacation to Turks and Caicos (a small island country in the Caribbean) faces a mandatory 12 year prison sentence because he accidently left four bullets in his luggage, which customs officials found.
Ryan Watson traveled to Turks and Caicos with his wife, Valerie, to celebrate his 40th birthday.
The vacation came to an abrupt end when airport staff members found a zip-close bag containing bullets in the couple's carry-on luggage. Watson said it was hunting ammunition he had accidentally brought with him. Under a strict law in Turks and Caicos, a court may still impose a mandatory 12-year sentence. "They were hunting ammunition rounds that I use for whitetail deer," Watson told NBC Boston in an interview conducted last week that aired after their first court appearance Tuesday. "I recognized them, and I thought, 'Oh, man, what a bonehead mistake that I had no idea that those were in there,'" he said.
Both he and his wife were arrested. His wife was released and allowed to travel back to the U.S. about 10 days later. They have two children.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt sent a letter to government officials in Turks and Caicos on April 16 in support of Ryan Watson, arguing the ammunition was "an inadvertent oversight, not an intentional attempt to break the law."
U.S. tourist faces 12 years in prison after taking ammunition to Turks and Caicos, Patrick Smith, NBC News, April 24, 2024
American Ryan Watson stuck in Turks and Caicos jail and facing 12 years in prison after airport staff found four rounds of ammo in his luggage as he tried to return home, Will Potter, Daily Mail, April 24, 2024
Mom reunited with kids after husband arrested in Turks and Caicos for ammunition, kktv, channel 11 News
I know some of those on the Left may have trouble understanding the point or being sympathetic to this man, so for you try imagining it was 4 grams of cannabis instead of bullets. Something you view as perfectly normal and not wrong, but which could be severely criminally punished in some other part of the world.
Ryan Watson traveled to Turks and Caicos with his wife, Valerie, to celebrate his 40th birthday.
The vacation came to an abrupt end when airport staff members found a zip-close bag containing bullets in the couple's carry-on luggage. Watson said it was hunting ammunition he had accidentally brought with him. Under a strict law in Turks and Caicos, a court may still impose a mandatory 12-year sentence. "They were hunting ammunition rounds that I use for whitetail deer," Watson told NBC Boston in an interview conducted last week that aired after their first court appearance Tuesday. "I recognized them, and I thought, 'Oh, man, what a bonehead mistake that I had no idea that those were in there,'" he said.
Both he and his wife were arrested. His wife was released and allowed to travel back to the U.S. about 10 days later. They have two children.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt sent a letter to government officials in Turks and Caicos on April 16 in support of Ryan Watson, arguing the ammunition was "an inadvertent oversight, not an intentional attempt to break the law."
U.S. tourist faces 12 years in prison after taking ammunition to Turks and Caicos, Patrick Smith, NBC News, April 24, 2024
American Ryan Watson stuck in Turks and Caicos jail and facing 12 years in prison after airport staff found four rounds of ammo in his luggage as he tried to return home, Will Potter, Daily Mail, April 24, 2024
Mom reunited with kids after husband arrested in Turks and Caicos for ammunition, kktv, channel 11 News
I know some of those on the Left may have trouble understanding the point or being sympathetic to this man, so for you try imagining it was 4 grams of cannabis instead of bullets. Something you view as perfectly normal and not wrong, but which could be severely criminally punished in some other part of the world.