Haiti police recover hijacked cargo ship in rare victory after 5-hour shootout with gangs

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — 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.

Also on Sunday, online news site Radio graphie reported that the Taliban gang used a front loader to demolish a police station in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Canaan where at least four police officers were killed in a recent attack. The station was no longer operational.

Gang violence continued on Monday, with police using megaphones to order the evacuation of the Champ de Mars area near the National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince as heavy gunfire erupted nearby.

The most recent gunbattle between police and gangs comes more than a month after gunmen began targeting key government infrastructure. They have burned down multiple police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remains closed and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

The ongoing violence forced Prime Minister Ariel Henry to announce he would resign once a transitional presidential council is formed.

Henry was in Kenya to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country when the attacks began and remains locked out of Haiti.

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People take cover from gunfire during clashes between police and gangs in the Champs de Mars area next to the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Police take cover during an anti-gang operation next to the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A vendor sells grilled chicken to customers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A street vendor crosses a street that is empty due to residents staying home amid gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

National Police patrol an intersection amid gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A National Police officer patrols an intersection in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, April 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

LONDON (AP) — A British police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to terror charges for showing support on social media for Hamas, which is designated a terror group and banned in the U.K.

West Yorkshire constable Mohammed Adil admitted sharing two images on WhatsApp supporting the group three weeks after Hamas and other Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7 and killed about 1,200 people and seized some 250 hostages.

Adil, 26, pleaded guilty in Westminster Magistrates’ Court to two counts of publishing an image in support of a proscribed organization in violation of the Terrorism Act.

In messages shared on WhatsApp stories with nearly 1,100 contacts, Adil posted images of a fighter wearing a Hamas headband, prosecutor Bridget Fitzpatrick said.

“Today is the time for the Palestinian people to rise, set their paths straight and establish an independent Palestinian state,” an Oct. 31 post said, apparently quoting the leader of Hamas’ military wing.

A second post on Nov. 4 was said to quote a Hamas military spokesperson.

Two other police officers who were concerned by the images reported Adil to superiors, Fitzpatrick said. He was arrested in November and has been suspended from the force.

“I accept that at the time of the offending you were of good character,” Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring told Adil, though he said he may impose a prison term when he is sentenced June 4.

Adil was released on bail.

West Yorkshire Police officer Mohammed Adil, 26, leaves Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London, Thursday May 2, 2024, after he admitted two counts of publishing an image in support of Hamas, which is banned and designated a terror group in the U.K., the Independent Office for Police Conduct said. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP)