Authorities reported that An Oklahoma man faces up to 12 years in prison in the Turks and Caicos Islands after customs officials found ammunition in his luggage.
Ryan Watson traveled to the Turks and Caicos Islands with his wife, Valerie, and two other friends to celebrate his 40th birthday on April 7. However, the vacation came to an abrupt end when airport staff found a Ziploc containing bullets in the couple’s carry-on luggage.
Watson claimed that he had been hunting and accidentally brought the ammunition with him. However, a strict law in the Turks and Caicos Islands could still cause a court to impose a mandatory 12-year sentence.
“They were hunting bullets that I use for whitetail deer. “I recognized them and thought, ‘Oh man, what a stupid mistake that I had no idea they were there,’” Watson told NBC Boston in an interview conducted last week and aired after his first court appearance Tuesday.
The couple was arrested and charged with possession of ammunition. The authorities confiscated their passports and explained the sanctions they faced.
“When I heard that, I was immediately terrified because I thought: We can’t both be in prison for 12 years. “We have kids at home and this is such an innocent mistake,” Valerie Watson said in the interview.
The charges against her were dropped and she returned to her home in Oklahoma City on Tuesday after the court hearing to reunite with her two young children.
“Our goal is to bring Ryan home because we can’t be a family without dad,” he said.
The US Embassy in the Bahamas issued a warning to travelers in September about a law that strictly prohibits the possession of firearms or ammunition in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British overseas territory southeast of the Bahamas.
It said: “We wish to remind all travelers that declaring a weapon in your luggage to an airline does not grant permission to bring the weapon to TCI [Islas Turcas y Caicos] and will result in your arrest.”
The embassy added: “If you bring a firearm or ammunition to TCI, we will not be able to guarantee your release.”
The same thing happened to another American, Bryan Hagerich of Pennsylvania, who was arrested after ammunition was found in his luggage before trying to board a flight from the Turks and Caicos Islands in February. He also claimed that he accidentally left them in his bag.
Hagerich was on a family vacation with his wife and two young children, but he has already been in the country for 70 days. He spent eight days in jail before posting bail.
“It’s incredibly scary. You know, you just don’t know what the next day may bring. You know, what direction this can go,” Hagerich told NBC Boston.
“You know, it’s certainly very different from packing your bags and going away with your family for a few days. “It has been the worst 70 days of my life,” she added.
His case will go to trial on May 3.
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