The assault rifles and pistols arrived in Haiti stashed in two cardboard boxes, nestled among packages of food and clothes, on a cargo ship stacked with rust-red shipping containers.

They had come from the US, which one expert describes as a "supermarket" feeding an arms race among gangs that have brought chaos to the Caribbean island nation.

An investigation by the BBC World Service and BBC Verify traced the two boxes' journey, showing how weapons from the US reach Haiti. It reveals a chain of lax laws, absent checks and suspected corruption used by traffickers to bypass a UN embargo.

Haitian police announced in April 2024 that they had seized the two boxes. They contained 12 assault rifles, 14 pistols and 999 ammunition cartridges.

A police photo clearly shows weapons from two different US-based manufacturers.

The shipment had travelled nearly 1,200km (746 miles) from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti, on the Rainer D cargo ship.

The shipping container was filled in a warehouse yard in Fort Lauderdale, according to a UN Panel of Experts, which is tasked with monitoring sanctions on Haiti and investigated the shipment.

Haitians in the US frequently ship much-needed food and other items to the country.

A man named Anestin Predestin told the Miami Herald that in late February 2024, he was leasing out space in the container.

He told the newspaper that a man who gave his name as "Diamortino" put in two boxes saying they contained "clothes" – and that he was shocked to learn later they had contained weapons.

The BBC's attempts to contact Mr Predestin were unsuccessful.

It is not clear where the guns had been bought. Guns are not manufactured in Haiti, and previous seizures have included guns bought in Florida.

Sometimes dubbed the "gunshine state", Florida was one of about 30 states where, until 2024, private, unlicensed sellers could sell firearms, for example at gun shows and online, without doing background checks. As president, Joe Biden tightened these rules nationally.

The UN panel says two Haitian brothers based in the US had used "straw buyers" – individuals buying on their behalf – to buy the weapons in the seized shipment.

Experts say this is a common method, often with the guns transported in multiple........

© BBC