Vaughan man charged after border agents seize police uniforms, guns, drugs, counterfeit money

A Vaughan, Ont., man is facing 29 charges after border agents seized firearms, ammunition, cocaine, counterfeit moneyand entire police uniformsfrom a home in May.

At a news conference in Mississauga on Wednesday, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said the charges against the 38-year-old man follow an investigation that began in March, when border services officers at the Vancouver International Mail Centre intercepted and seized a package containing a prohibited weapon. The package wasaddressed to a Vaughan residence.

CBSA said its firearms smuggling enforcement team linked the packageto two other packages it seized, one in October 2021 and another in February 2023.

The firstcontained prohibited weapons, the agency said. The othercontained fake Canadian police badges, fake police warrant cards, stencils of Alberta's provincial emblem, and several patches with law enforcement, intelligence and military logos.

On May 24, the CBSA said its team executed a search warrant at the Vaughan home. Investigators found "police marked paraphernalia"that made up complete police uniforms, including several ballistic vests, uniform components, police identity cards and law enforcement badges. The seizure also included handcuffs and batons.

Investigators also found one restricted firearm that was reportedly stolen, four prohibited firearms, six replica firearms, more than 70 rounds of ammunition, five magazines, stun guns, brass knuckles, prohibited knives, more than 30 grams of cocaine and more than $60,000 in counterfeit money. In total, more than 400 items were seized, 160 of which were "police identifiers," they said.

"In fact, as you can see here today, there were enough uniform components seized to make up complete police uniforms from multiple police agencies," Joshua Newby, CBSA Ontario Firearms Smuggling Enforcement team director, told reporters.

Investigators said they were surprised and troubled by the number of items and they believe the vast majority of metal badges seized were counterfeit.

The items came from China, investigators said at the news conference. The metal badges were believed to have been ordered online and shipped.

As for the firearms, five displayed on a table at the news conference are fully functional while six are not, said investigators.

There is no evidence that the police uniforms had beenused in a particular way and no evidence that the accused was selling the components, they added.

No evidence of larger network, CBSA says

The man, who remains in detention, wascharged with 29 offences. The CBSA said it has no informationto suggest the man was working with a larger network of people butthe investigation is still underway.

His charges include 26 criminal charges, including possession of prohibited firearms, possession of a restricted firearm, possession of counterfeit moneyand possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose,as well as two charges under the Customs Act for smuggling prohibited weapons into Canadaand one charge under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act of possession for the purpose of trafficking.