Men caught with weaponry in Haiti returned to the US

The US State Department said several men arrested in Haiti with a cache of weaponry at a time of violent demonstrations have been returned to the United States before a scheduled court hearing in the Caribbean nation.

The department said in an emailed statement that the return was coordinated with Haitian authorities, but a spokesman for Haiti’s Prime Minister Jean-Henry Ceant told Radio Vision 2000 on Thursday that he was not aware of the men’s departure and demanded an immediate explanation from the justice minister.

Five US citizens were among eight men arrested on Sunday while carrying automatic weapons and other arms and driving in cars without license plates. Police spokesman Michel-Ange Louis-Jeune has said the men told police they were on a “mission,” but they refused to say anything else except that they would call their unidentified bosses.

Prosecutors had said the men would appear in court on Wednesday. Instead, they were taken to the airport. One of the men is a Haitian citizen and apparently was not returned.