“The police have consulted with the DPP’s office and they are satisfied that no charges will be laid in this case.”

Their (referring to DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS) decision is guided by a recent ruling in the Supreme Court on appeal that charges for these offences need more than evidence of just physical possession: it must also be proved that the person was aware of what they were carrying and that they did so with a criminal intent. That is not the case in this matter.

So, whilst so many are blaming the BPS and Customs about enforcing the law, it is rather transparent that they did what was required ie., detaining the suspects, questioning them and releasing them as per instructions from DPP. And not directly at YES MATE, but there are a number of comments that boast the LAW is the LAW. The LAWMAKERS (Lawyers, DPP, Etc.) made the decision not to pursue, so, the issue that many are so quick to highlight should really beg to question:

Under what provisions of the law does it enable the DPP to pick, choose and refuse what cases to consider?

How much more fact do you need?

“If they had gone to court the judge would have just dismissed the case based on the facts, anyway. Prosecutions clearly felt they had nothing to go on or they would have had them in court in a heartbeat.”

The police and customs did their job. They apprehended the suspects, questioned them and PROSECUTIONS did not have anything to go on. High place or not, seems like it may have been a waste of time and costly Bermudians.

“….you cannot make a full assessment with just the bare facts laid out by the media.” Ditto on those assesments.

HOWEVER, I do believe (and as a former Immigration worker) I strongly believe this if American visitors arrive in countries where there is an American consulate and are arrested for any type of crime (whether charges are dropped or not) the American embassies need to enforce tougher penalites against their own citizens before dishing out stoplist passes to Bermudians for what maybe deemed in their countries as a misdemeanor offence. Greater transparency between the BPS and the American Embassy needs to be forged in order to sift out many of the issues stemming from antiquated laws.

We have all sorts of gun crime being committed in Bermuda. Why were these person not caught with this ammunition when the boarded the cruise ship when they sailed to Bermuda? Why is it not plausible that therse two persons were paid to take this ammunition out of Bermuda. Unlike the US authorities, if you are caught with drugs, weapons and other illegal items, you cannot travel to the USA, and possibly thrown into their prison system. But in this Island, a foreigner can say “I didn’t know ” and the Law says, “that’s ok, go free! When you pack for travelling, you check your luggage first! People must laugh at our Judicial system. This has happened many times before.

If I borrowed a suitcase and was caught with weapons or drugs in Bermuda, I’d be in jail!!! We’ve heard this same excuse with Bermudians or nationals from other third-world countries being used unaware as couriers of drugs or weapons. They are in Westgate! Where is the justice for Bermudians.

Two Laws always seem to play out in this Country, (the WHO YOU ARE OR KNOW, and THE NOBODY of IMPORTANCE!) If you think that we as Bermudians are willing to offer up information to resolve our crimes, while foreigners go free….THINK AGAIN!

So why does someone get off because they ‘accidentally’ brought 40 rounds of ammo in. I’ve seen plenty of times where someone claimed to ‘mistakenly’ bring in Marijuana, and been prosecuted. The thing is, the Americans in this case ‘should’ have been questioned when the left the U.S ” Are you aware of your bags contents at this time”……” Did you pack your bags”…..”Did you leave your bags unattended while traveling”…… If he/she answered yes to being aware of the contents then, then they have accepted responsibility for what’s in his bag.

I don’t understand this at all… and this is exactly why people saw the law doesn’t make sense. Now you’ve set a bad precedent….so the next time a person ‘accidentally’ brings Marijuana in, they get off, right????

Bottom line is they’re gone. If they had gone to court the judge would have just dismissed the case based on the facts, anyway. Prosecutions clearly felt they had nothing to go on or they would have had them in court in a heartbeat.

AGAIN-you don’t have the facts,and these people are gone so GET OVER IT!

If someone is going to smuggle anything into a foreign country you aren’t going to bring your fiancee, her parents and other relatives with you as was the case here. These were clearly folks on a family vacation-that’s for starters.

Secondly, there are FORENSIC WAYS of tracing these people’s movements before their arrest. If these people were going to meet up with their ‘contact’ here they would have gotten in touch with them, now wouldn’t they? There was NO evidence at all that these people contacted or even knew anyone in Bermuda-ALL THAT WAS CHECKED! They knew no-one here and did not attempt to make contact with anyone here. THINK ABOUT IT-these people made ZERO contact with anyone in Bermuda so how was this ‘meeting’ going to go down to pass off the ammo? Also-what, were they planning on taking their whole extended family with them when they did it? OH, PUH-LEEZE.

As for people talking about ‘cop lovers’ or badmouthing law enforcement agents: let YOU or YOUR LOVED ONES be the one in need of assistance from the Police. You won’t be badmouthing them then, now will you…your fingers will be dialing 911 in a heartbeat. So before you smack talk cops, just think about THAT!

I say to stop thinking like Bermudians because as Bermudians we are used to weapons and ammo being illegal. In the U.S. you can easily go and get a permit for a weapon. I don’t know about now, but at one point you could go to the local WalMart and buy ammo! You can go to Outdoor World and buy all the weapons and ammo you want.

In many places having tons of weapons is the norm-especially if you live in a place that’s big on hunting. Then there are people like this guy who shoot for recreational reasons-something that is perfectly normal for him. It was perfectly normal for him to load up his bag for a fun day at the shooting range, then clear this same bag for a vacation but miss a box of bullets. What person would take the chance of going off on vacay with bullets in their bag knowing it could be searched at any moment?

You people didn’t witness ANY of this or speak to ANY of the people involved so you can’t pass judgement. People much smarter than you and higher up in the judical scale than any of you are even close to had a look at this and believed that it was a genuine mistake. Case closed-get over it.

BTW-I personally once innocently had an item in my carry-on luggage that could be deemed to be a weapon. I temporarily placed it in my bag at the hotel and forgot about it. Somehow, for reasons I don’t understand, TSA totally missed it and I didn’t realize my mistake until I got back to Bermuda. If I had been caught, I would have been out there on the wrong side of the law pleading my innocence and hoping I was believed. This stuff can happen to anyone.

“it must also be proved that the person was aware of what they were carrying and that they did so with a criminal intent. That is not the case in this matter.”

How do they know this? So they know it was a mistake because they told them so? And the aware part, how are you NOT aware of what you are carrying on an overseas trip?I know EVERYTHING that I take overseas.

Do they CARE about whether a person is aware any other time? How many people have been caught with a small amount of marijuana and said they forgot they had it on them coming into Bermuda? A LOT! What is really going on? I agree with that other person who commented we would not get off if we did that in the United States. These tourists like to play dumb like they don’t know the laws here! A simple google search would tell them guns are illegal and no shooting ranges are here. Why would an American tourist come to Bermuda to shoot off guns when they can do it ANYWHERE in their own country anyway? So because he’s a member at a shooting range that means he couldn’t possibly have been attempting to sell the bullets? I mean with all the shooting lately how much of a stretch is that to believe? This is unbelievable and pure BS. Why do they get a break when others don’t?

I think it’s the reporting.

.you wants bullets..ask the guys that paint the hulls of container ships…..ann a freee gahun two………

I need a rum…..

This is MY Country and under the laws in MY country these two should be charged especially will all the gun crime going on.

I’m going to go roll up cause s%$ts crazy right now

Legalize it

As for the weed issue … why does it seem that it’s getting woven into every thread on Bernews now ? No matter what the topic it ends up getting thrown off by people still whining that herb isn’t legal ..

Enough ! ! ! Just grow up .

As a source close to this whole thing, I can attest to the fact that while this sounds horrible, that this was all just an innocent mistake. The Police and Customs aren’t stupid (despite what you all think). These two were arrested and detained for hours-they weren’t just asked a few questions and let go!

Stop thinking like Bermudians for a second. First of all, if these individuals did bring in ammunition for someoneone in Bermuda, why would they be taking it back with them on the ship on the day the ship was set to depart? Secondly, the male was a member of a shooting club in the U.S.-all legit where he lived. He stored the ammunition in a bag and forgot about it. How many times have any of us placed things in a side compartment of a bag and forgot it was there? It was just part of his routine and he didn’t give it a thought when he packed the same bag for his trip.

These people were genuinely horrified when they realized what had happened. Think about it-bullets are cheap in the U.S. If this guy intended to meet up with someone to sell them the bullets and the meeting didn’t take place, why take them back through security on the ship? They would have just dumped them somewhere before re-boarding.

As I said, the Police aren’t stupid. They checked all this stuff out including the fact that this guy was a member of a shooting club. Police can tell when someone’s b-s’ing and when they’re not. From these two’s reactions, if they really were guilty then they deserve an Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe and every other award out there for their acting skills in proclaiming their innocence and explaining what happened.

It really was just an innocent mistake. It made no sense to spend taxpayer money on keeping these two here and locking them up over an innocent mistake that could have happened to anyone (forgetfulness).

(How they got through all the security checkpoints before getting here is another story…)

Like the song says…”It an’t heavy….he’s my ammo”.

“Honey, why’s my bag so heavy..I mean I only got the camera and two bottles of water and ……”