A Chilliwack, B.C., man has been arrested for allegedly importing a weapons cache of almost 1,400 prohibited weapons brought into the country illegally from China.
The parcels were imported from China using a false declaration and contained “large quantities of prohibited weapons,” according to the CBSA.
An investigation team arrested a suspect on Jan. 25 for alleged offences under the Customs Act and the Criminal Code, and found a number of prohibited weapons and firearms during the arrest.
On Jan. 26, investigators armed with a search warrant seized multiple additional prohibited weapons from a Chilliwack residence, 1,350 in total, plus 13 considered prohibited firearms.
The total cache seized both at the border and from the home included 360 stun guns, 422 prohibited knives, 171 stun batons, 7 spring-loaded batons, 390 brass knuckles, and 13 tasers, which are considered prohibited firearms.
Charges are pending.
“The CBSA is committed to preventing the smuggling of prohibited firearms and weapons into Canada,” Mark Zelenika, regional director general for CBSA Pacific Region, said in the release.
From Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, the CBSA Pacific Region seized 4,049 prohibited weapons in total. The Criminal Code defines prohibited weapons as including “a knife that has a blade that opens automatically by gravity or centrifugal force or by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife.”
The CBSA did not indicate how many weapons were seized at the border, versus how many were seized as a result of the warrant.
