Haiti’s National Police agency says that it has recovered a hijacked cargo ship laden with rice following a gunbattle with gangs that lasted more than five hours.
Two police officers were injured and an undetermined number of gang members were killed in the shootout that occurred Saturday off the coast of the capital, Port-au-Prince, authorities said in a statement.
It was a rare victory for an underfunded police department that has struggled to quell gang violence following a spate of attacks that began Feb. 29.
Police said in the statement Sunday that those responsible for the hijacking were members of two gangs, named the 5 Seconds and the Taliban gang. They said gunmen seized the transport ship Magalie on Thursday as it departed the port of Varreux.
Radio Télé Métronome reported that the gangs kidnapped everyone aboard the ship and stole some 10,000 sacks of rice out of the 60,000 sacks it was carrying.
The ship was headed to the northern coastal city of Cap-Haitien.
On Friday, the National police said they also confiscated a “significant” number of weapons and ammunition in Cap-Hatien, A 2023 United Nations report said the U.S., particularly Florida, has been a key source for guns and other weapons being sent into Haiti.
“These weapons are getting into the wrong hands,” DHS Special Agent Anthony Solvere told NBC News in March. “They can do untold damage.”
Read More: Haitian police seize hijacked cargo ship after 5-hour shootout