Rakim Romlelle Joseph, 26, was shot and killed Monday night in White Rock, Grande Riviere, marking Saint Lucia’s 24th homicide this year, nearly all involving firearms. The Royal Saint Lucia Police Force has launched an investigation, but the incident underscores a deeper crisis: the nation’s struggle to stem the flow of illegal guns through its porous borders.
Gun violence has surged as one of Saint Lucia’s most pressing crime concerns over the past decade. Yet, it’s only one facet of a broader security threat fuelled by the unchecked movement of firearms, including high-calibre weapons.
Prime Minister Philip J Pierre recently travelled to Martinique with the police commissioner to discuss tightening border security.
“We’re working jointly with the crime authorities and the marines to see how we can make our borders less porous,” Pierre said at a pre-Cabinet press briefing this week. “It’s a fact that our borders are a cause of concern, particularly for the [smuggling] of weapons. But it’s a joint intelligence effort that we’d rather keep private.”
By October 2024, police had seized more than 68 illegal firearms and over 1 200 rounds of ammunition, surpassing 2023’s haul of 61 guns and 500 rounds.
In March, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force restructured its Drug Squad into the Gang, Narcotics, and Firearms Unit (GNFU), focusing on intelligence-driven operations to combat gang violence, drug trafficking and illegal firearms.
Still, progress has been slow. Even law enforcement has been implicated: In October 2023, a female officer was detained after customs officials discovered a barrel of high-calibre weapons and ammunition at the Vieux Fort Seaport. Authorities have not provided updates on the case.
The seizure came seven months after customs officers underwent training under Project Bolt, a World Customs Organisation initiative to improve firearm detection at ports. Months later, another joint operation uncovered handguns hidden in a shipping consignment in the north.
Saint Lucia is also reducing firearms in circulation. In December 2024, it partnered with CARICOM IMPACS, the regional crime and security agency, to destroy over 300 obsolete weapons.
But Earl Harris, Assistant Director of Corporate Services at CARICOM IMPACS, says tracing crime-scene guns is now critical to dismantling trafficking networks.
“We are not only attempting to stem the flow of guns from north to south, but we are also attempting to trace these weapons when they’re found on crime scenes,” Harris told a regional security meeting last week. “Once they arrive in the country and are used, in any jurisdiction in the region, we work with the police forces… to trace it… and by that we’re in a better position to disrupt the criminal networks.”
He stressed regional cooperation: “Once you recover a weapon, send the information to us… to determine whether it came from South America, North America, Europe… and start linking these recovered weapons to the gang and the persons who are on our database. Our goal really is to disrupt it and take the profit out of this trafficking of guns.”
As authorities work to dismantle supply routes and improve intelligence-sharing, the country’s success in curbing gun violence may hinge on whether these efforts can outpace the relentless flow of firearms across its borders.
