Weapons seized from Lower Sackville home after smuggling investigation

A Lower Sackville, N.S., man is facing several firearms and weapons charges after a two-month smuggling investigation bythe Canadian Border Services Agency and Halifax District RCMP.

The investigation started last December when an international mail processing centre in Toronto intercepted a shipment of 10 banned centrifugal knives that weredestined for an address in Lower Sackville, a communityabout 20 kilometres northwest of Halifax.

In a news release Tuesday, the border agency said they arrested a 42-year-old man in late January for allegedly smuggling prohibited weapons into Canada.

The border agency said the man was carryinga restricted handgun and a loaded magazine at the time of his arrest. Bothwere seized.

Officers with the agency and RCMP conducted a search warrant of the man's residence, where more weapons and tactical gear was seized, including:

• Six handguns.
• One double-barrel shotgun receiver.
• Nine rifles.
• One shotgun.
• One crossbow.
• 10 overcapacity magazines.
• Hard-plated body armour with a camouflage carrier.
• A military-grade rifle scope.
• A night-vision scope.
• Ammunition.
• Shotgun barrels.
• Gun parts including pistol grips, rail handle, butt stocks and fore grips.

A representative for the Canada Border Services Agency said they don't know where the weapons came from or what they were to be used for.

"To us, it's more of the matterof public safety," said Colin Murchison, the CBSA's assistant director of criminal investigations for theAtlantic region.

"Obviously, not knowing the intent of an individual who's importing 10 prohibited knives is obviously of concern and obviously something we're going to follow up on."

Murchison said the agency doesn't believe the man was planning to sell the knives, but the investigation is ongoing.