A 29-year-old St. Croix resident was sentenced Friday, June 20, to 30 months in prison for unlawfully possessing a machine gun, according to a release Tuesday from the Justice Department.
Shabukah Bannis was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis following his arrest during a Nov. 30, 2023, traffic stop in which Virgin Islands Police Officers found a loaded machine gun with an obliterated serial number hidden under the driver’s seat of her vehicle. Officers also recovered marijuana after Bannis admitted to having it in the car when they detected its odor, according to court documents.
In handing down the sentence, Lewis said the message must be “loud, clear, and unmistakable — the possession of these types of weapons of war cannot and will not be tolerated in this community.”