re: 3 US governors ask Turks and Caicos to release Americans detained over ammo

In February a court required that tourists start being held to the mandatory prison time. I don’t know if it was a correct decision or not by the court, but I do wonder if state department, travel agency if used, and/or the cruise ship (for that one) updated their info. That’s a huge change to enforcement and punishment based on the law without actually changing the existing law. They shouldn’t have had them anyway, but the change from paying a fine to a mandatory 12 prison term would force multiple looks through bags and all compartments. Or just using new bags for trip.

Recent ones seem to have been caught with random checks while leaving. Do they do random checks of bags for stuff like this when tourists enter? You would think catching stuff entering would be more of a concern and have more checks.

quote:

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Possessing either a gun or ammunition is prohibited in Turks and Caicos, but tourists were previously able to just pay a fine. That changed in February when a court order required even tourists to potentially face mandatory prison time in addition to paying a fine. The territory's attorney general has said that if a court finds there were exceptional circumstances surrounding the discovery of ammunition, the sentencing judge has discretion to impose a custodial sentence of less than 12 years.

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Probably have maids or someone go thru bags and tell them who to randomly check on the way out after group has spent their money.