A Florida man was arrested and faces federal charges after authorities discovered a significant cache of illegally exported firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition hidden in a shipping container bound for Haiti. This incident highlights the growing concerns about the illicit flow of U.S. weapons to the Caribbean nation, where violence driven by gangs continues to escalate.
Williamson Dossous was apprehended by federal agents at Miami International Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Haiti on Sunday. He is charged with smuggling goods from the United States and illegally exporting firearms and ammunition without the necessary license.
The investigation commenced on January 16, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers inspected a container at the Port of Miami. The shipment was labeled as “household goods and personal effects” destined for Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. X-ray scans revealed a hidden stockpile of firearms and ammunition concealed among bundles of clothing and wrapped in aluminum foil.
Authorities from the Department of Homeland Security revealed that Dossous did not personally purchase any of the firearms, which is a tactic often employed to avoid leaving a paper trail. Instead, several of the seized weapons were traced back to friends, family, and acquaintances of Dossous.
In one instance, a woman interviewed by investigators reported that she had bought two guns at Dossous’s prompting 37 days before the seizure. She said that he had driven her to purchase the weapons “for protection.” However, after experiencing a family emergency, she left the firearms in Dossous’s vehicle and did not retrieve them. Subsequently, she claimed that he ignored her calls and left town.
Two additional firearms were identified as belonging to Dossous’s son, purchased just four months prior to the container’s seizure. Furthermore, another weapon was traced to a patient at a chiropractic clinic where Dossous is listed as the corporate secretary. This woman claimed she was unaware of how he came to possess the firearm but had heard it was part of the confiscated shipment.
A final weapon was linked to an acquaintance who admitted to knowing Dossous as someone who frequently shipped goods to Haiti. The acquaintance stated that the gun had been inside a vehicle involved in a car accident in December 2024 and had not been seen since. Travel records confirmed that both Dossous and the acquaintance had previously flown together to Cap-Haïtien in July 2023.
During a June 13 interview, Dossous told federal agents that he had been shipping containers to Haiti for over 20 years, typically sending two or three per year. He denied having any knowledge of the weapons in the shipment from January.
However, federal authorities obtained a recorded phone call involving a confidential source, wherein Dossous admitted to handling the firearms. In this conversation, he acknowledged: “They going to get my fingerprints on them [guns] because I touched them… I was there when he was doing the stuff… I know about the guns, I touched the guns.” Agents confirmed that the voice on the recording belonged to Dossous, with the phone number tracing back to his girlfriend, whose billing address matched Dossous’s residence.
Investigators also established that Dossous lacked the required export license to legally send firearms and ammunition overseas. Upon his arrest at the airport, Dossous made a spontaneous admission after overhearing agents discuss a separate smuggling case. He stated, “I know my prints are going to be on the guns because I touched them. I’m not going to lie about that.” Dossous appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid the following day, who set bail at $300,000. He has since posted bond and is released under multiple conditions, including the surrender of his passport.
The case adds to the increasing concern regarding Florida’s role as a hub in the illegal arms trade that exacerbates gang violence and instability in Haiti. Officials from Homeland Security and Haitian authorities have highlighted the Port of Miami as a critical point for the flow of unregulated weapons into the region.
image source from：nycaribnews
