Canada charges three in border smuggling case
Curtis Coleman, Geraldo Ricardo John and Dwight Anderson face more than 30 weapons-related charges, said Inspector Amrik Virk of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in suburban Surrey.
Coleman is a U.S. citizen, but Virk couldn't confirm the other men's backgrounds. He did not provide a hometown for Coleman.
They were also charged under the Immigration Act with failing to cross the border properly and held to appear in court at a later date, Virk said.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is working on the case, and Virk said the men also might face charges in the United States.
The three were arrested Wednesday after the RCMP were tipped by the U.S. Border Patrol that men dressed in camouflage gear were seen running into Canada before dawn from a truck parked on the U.S. side.
The vehicle was parked on Zero Avenue, a country lane running parallel to the border.
The RCMP quickly set up perimeter points, and a police dog led officers on a search through back yards, swamps and dense bush.
The men eventually were found hiding in a creek on a golf course with large packs containing 41 handguns, between $50,000 and $100,000 (U.S.) in cash and diamonds. Two Tek-9 machine pistols, versions of which can fire like a submachine gun, were among the weapons seized.
The smuggling attempt appeared to be an organized-crime deal linked to the drug trade, said Constable Alex Borden of the RCMP.
"Our investigative theory here is guns for drugs," Borden said.
"Somebody on this side had some drugs in exchange for all these guns. Basically that's what everything's pointing at right now."
Such a transaction is not unusual, he said. British Columbia is a prime source of highly potent marijuana exported to the United States, sometimes in exchange for harder drugs such as cocaine and hard-to-get handguns.
U.S. authorities in recent years have set up electronic surveillance to monitor the easily traversed border area.
Borden said investigators will try to determine the guns' ultimate destination, but he had little doubt that some form of organized crime was involved. "I would think that for somebody to be moving 41 handguns, there has to be a market for 41 handguns," he said. "This isn't just hit and miss."
Canada has become a lucrative market for smuggled handguns, Borden noted, adding "Canada's handgun laws are fairly strict."