Canada Border Services Agency officials announced today that a Canadian man living in the U.S. was arrested after nearly two dozen handguns were found in a northbound vehicle.
The “significant weapon seizure” – which took place at the Pacific Highway border – occurred March 23.
Details were not shared until Tuesday morning, during a media briefing held at the Douglas (Peace Arch) port.
Daniela Evans, director of CBSA’s Pacific Highway District, and Harald Wuigk, assistant director of the region’s criminal investigations section, told reporters the find – 19 handguns and 32 over-capacity magazines – was made by a detector-dog team during a secondary examination of a passenger vehicle.
Four-year-old Fenix alerted Border Services Officer Matt Baird to one handgun behind the factory panelling of the vehicle. Further examination located a total of 19 handguns and 32 over-capacity magazines, Evans said.
“These guns were not just seized, they were prevented from winding up in our communities,” Evans said. “These dangerous weapons will not be used to cause harm to any Canadian.”
The traveller was arrested, and both the vehicle and cache of guns and magazines were seized.
In response to questions, Evans and Wuigk would not disclose the arrested traveller’s age, hometown, where in the U.S. he had been living or where he’d told border officers he was heading. They did say he was released from custody on a $50,000 surety.
According to online court records, the accused was born in 1971.
Asked why the CBSA waited more than six weeks to announce the seizure, Evans said it was due to ongoing investigation.
“We think this is a fantastic outcome,” she said.
In 2017, 738 firearms seizures were made across Canada. At borders stretching from Abbotsford/Huntingdon to Boundary Bay, 132 firearms were seized last year, Evans said.
She confirmed no one else is facing charges in connection with the March 23 seizure.
Scott MacCallum Osborne is next due to appear in Surrey Provincial Court on Feb. 14, 2019, in connection with 27 charges related to the smuggling, illegal importation and possession of firearms.
