A 34-year-old Toronto man is accused of smuggling guns into Canada through the mail.
The Canada Border Services Agency says the accused man’s arrest was made as part of an investigation by their Ontario Firearms Smuggling Enforcement Team – a group of CBSA criminal investigators, intelligence analysts and intelligence officers dedicated to investigating firearms smuggling throughout the province.
“In August 2024, Border Services Officers working at the International Mail Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, intercepted a parcel that was addressed to a Toronto residence,” the CBSA said in a statement Wednesday. “Officers seized the contents of the parcel, including three prohibited semi-automatic handguns, five cartridge magazines and twelve rounds of ammunition.”
The CBSA said their investigators, assisted by the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force, executed a search warrant at a residence in Toronto in late August.
Nicholas Douglas, of Toronto, was arrested.
He is charged with three counts of smuggling a prohibited device under the Customs Act, and Criminal Code offences that include three counts of knowingly importing prohibited goods, one count of conspiring with a person or persons unknown to commit an indictable offence of importing a prohibited or restricted firearm, and one count of knowingly transferring a prohibited firearm.
“The CBSA Ontario Firearms Smuggling Enforcement Team is committed to detecting, investigating and disrupting organized crime,” Abeid Morgan, acting director of the CBSA’s Intelligence and Enforcement Operations Division in Southern Ontario, said in the statement. “This investigation, arrest, and charges demonstrate our role and strong partnerships to find and seize prohibited firearms.”
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Anyone with information regarding suspicious cross-border activity, including firearms smuggling, is asked to call the CBSA Border Watch Line toll-free at 1-888-502-9060.
“The safety and security of Canadians is our top priority,” Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc said in the statement. “We are proud of the Canada Border Services Agency’s work to investigate those who break Canada’s laws and keep our communities safe from prohibited firearms.”