Border officials say so-called “ghost guns” made from 3D-printed parts have been seized in British Columbia’s Interior after international shipments were intercepted at postal hubs in Vancouver and Toronto.
The Canada Border Services Agency says in a statement that officers executed a search warrant in West Kelowna on April 27 in connection with contraband firearms parts and discovered a 3D printing machine in the process of printing a gun frame.
The agency says six completed gun frames, all without serial numbers, were seized from the property.
The CBSA says it searched a property in Lumby, British Columbia, the next day and seized a loaded 9mm handgun without a serial number, nine unrestricted long guns, a prohibited knife, a stun gun and four boxes of ammunition.
It said the two men arrested during the action had been released pending further investigation.
In July, a Winnipeg man was arrested and charged with several crimes related to the manufacture and trafficking of 3D-printed weapons and gun parts. A few months earlier, Saskatoon police charged a man with manufacturing restricted firearms using components made with a 3-D printer.
In Canada, it is illegal to make guns or gun frames without a firearms license.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said in a statement that “ghost guns” that do not have serial numbers pose a “serious risk” because they are easy to manufacture and difficult to trace.
Smuggling firearms into Canada is punishable by a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
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