Some Haitian Rebel Guns Smuggled From South Florida

The political unrest in Haiti, with its graphic daily images of gunfire and street violence, is focusing attention once again on the island's South Florida gun connection.

Behind drugs, gun cases now occupy most of the attention of federal prosecutors in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, statistics show.

"The movement of guns from South Florida to Haiti has been going on for a long time, and these cases are almost always linked to unrest in Haiti," said Daniel McBride, who heads technical services for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. McBride was in charge of the Miami office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms office during the 1990s, when dozens of Haitian gunrunners were prosecuted.

Agents across the country have noted a trend: Wherever Haitian immigrants gather within the United States, ATF sees a boom in gun-smuggling cases. In Atlanta, for example, ATF is seeing a rise in guns flowing to Haiti in correlation with that city's growing Haitian population.