Arrests of US tourists in Turks and Caicos for carrying ammunition prompt plea from three governors

By SUDHIN THANAWALA
Associated Press

Five Americans are facing prison sentences of up to 12 years in the Turks and Caicos Islands on charges they illegally carried ammunition while in the popular, upscale tourist destination about 600 miles southeast of Miami. Three of the arrests have prompted pleas for mercy from the governors of Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In a letter Tuesday to the islands’ governor, they said the three men charged from their states maintained they inadvertently took ammunition with them on vacation. They did not have firearms. The British territory significantly tightened its gun laws in 2022 following a jump in gun violence and weapons trafficking.