Police arrest 45, seize 440 homemade weapons in Canada wide raids targeting 3D printed guns

A Canada-wide police operation was carried out against those trafficking homemade firearms on Tuesday – which includes 3D-printed handguns. It was coordinated by the Montreal Integrated Weapons Enforcement Team (EILTA), made up of members of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), the Montreal police force (SPVM), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Canada Border Services Agency.

The searches took place in several Canadian provinces, including Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

More than 20 police forces across the country worked to carry out 64 searches and 45 arrests which resulted in the seizure of 440 firearms, including :
62 handguns;
71 3D-printed handguns;
Two 3D-printed long guns;
One machine pistol;
52 3D printers;
32 3D-printed magazines;
87 silencers, including 63 3D printed;
176 3D-printed gun bodies.

The items seized will be used to demonstrate, among other things, the suspects’ involvement in criminal activities, including the homemade manufacture and sale of firearms using 3D printers.

“This operation demonstrates how Canadian police organizations are joining forces to combat the emerging phenomenon of homemade firearms, “said the Director of Criminal Investigations with the Sûreté du Québec, Chief Inspector Benoit Dubé.

In Quebec, 19 searches took place in Montreal, Berthierville, New Carlisle, Pont-Rouge, Repentigny, Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Sainte-Angèle-de-Monnoir, Gatineau, Saint-Calixte, Quebec City and Saint-Alexandre-d’Iberville.

“The Sûreté du Québec, with its partners in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, will continue to monitor and act against gun violence. The phenomenon is interprovincial and does not stop at borders; neither does our cooperation and our desire to ensure the safety of our populations,” Dubé added.

Any information relating to the possession, trafficking, use or manufacture of firearms can be communicated to the SQ’s CENTAURE information line at 1-833-888-ARME (2763).

The mandate of the CENTAURE unit is to ensure constant pressure on organized crime and actively combat gun violence in Quebec. CENTAURE enables all partner police forces to maximize their efforts at national, regional and local levels, targeting the supply, import, manufacture, distribution and illegal possession of firearms.

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