Implicated in a case of illicit trafficking of firearms and ammunition in Haiti on behalf of the Episcopal Church, the former head of the Sur le Rocher church, Dieuné Day was arrested this Thursday, December 12 by the Dominican Police while he was on the run on the other side of the border.
A few hours after the pastor's arrest, Dominican authorities handed him over to the Haitian National Police (PNH). He was the subject of a wanted notice issued by PNH.
The Episcopal Church, an Anglican Protestant church, had been implicated in the illicit trafficking of firearms and ammunition. According to the investigations carried out, the Church officials had authorized several times payments of several tens of thousands of dollars to accounts of international arms traffickers who sold them weapons and ammunition.
According to investigations conducted by the Bureau of Financial and Economic Affairs (BAFE) of the Haitian judicial police, containers destined for the church contained a surprise cargo of 18 war weapons, 4 9-millimeter caliber pistols, 14,646 cartridges, 140 magazines, a sight and 50,000 US dollars in counterfeit bills.
Episcopal Church officials were indicted. One of them, Father Frantz Cole, was arrested at the end of his hearing after refusing several invitations from the BAFE. He was the diocesan executive secretary of the Episcopal Church. He and three other indicted employees, including Father Jean Mardoché Vil, Father Fritz Désiré and accountant Jean Marie Gilles, were later cleared.
As for the former head of the Sur le Rocher church in whose name the containers were shipped, the order of the investigating magistrate Martel Jean-Claude had maintained the charges against him. The document had sent him before the criminal court without the assistance of a jury to answer for his alleged role in this affair.
Translated by CHIP editors
Posted Jan. 12, 2025