Gun seizures double in Windsor-Detroit this year
Canadian border agents in Windsor have already seized twice as many guns this year than it did in 2014.
The Canada Border Services Agency tells CBC it has seized 76 firearms this year. It seized 38 last year and 53 in 2013.
The seizures happened at the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge, North America's busy commercial land border crossing.
When asked why the number has increased so dramatically, CBSA couldn't say.
"It is not a practice of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to speculate, but a multitude of factors may impact statistics including inspections, vehicle volumes, size/volume of a seizure, and in some cases, travellers not being familiar with Canada's firearms laws," CBSA communications officer Diana Scott said in an email to CBC.
When asked if there have been upgrades or new measures implemented at the Windsor-Detroit border crossings in order to crack down on illegal gun trafficking, here's what Scott wrote:
- The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) places a high priority on the detection and interdiction of undeclared firearms and prohibited weapons and plays an important role in their identification and seizure at designated ports of entry. Our officers are vigilant in interrupting the flow of undeclared firearms and preventing illegal firearms from reaching our communities.
- Dedicated and professional border services officers use proven indicators and advance information, innovative technological tools, information sharing and training to carry out their mandate to target high risk goods and people.
- The CBSA's Criminal Investigations Division conducts investigations and pursues criminal prosecution of individuals smuggling firearms, in partnership with U.S. and Canadian police agencies.
Brian Masse, a New Democrat candidate and the incumbent in the riding of Windsor West, said he finds the spike in gun seizures at the border "alarming."
Masse believes that the increase may be a result of cutbacks that he says the federal government has made, including to the ranks of undercover Canadian law enforcement that work with U.S. counterparts to shut down gun smuggling operations before weapons originating in the U.S. get anywhere near the Canadian border.
"Two years ago, they cut the actual undercover officers in the southern region that we're in right here, by [more than] 40 members," he said in an interview on Friday.
"These are undercover men and women that worked with the U.S. officials...to ensure that there was actually cases broken before they even tried to get over the border."
Some guns stay, some guns go
Within Windsor itself, police say they have not had a noticeable spike in the number of guns they have seized in the city. The total this year is in a line with the force's five-year average.
But Deputy Chief Vince Power told CBC News on Friday that the city's police force has been cracking down on gun-and-drug related crimes and that could potentially lead to a higher number of firearms being seized overall.
"When I project, with respect to gun and drug enforcement, we're going to be well over 20 per cent more drug raids and gun raids [this year] and so with that comes more seizures," he said in an interview.
Asked where the guns go when they are brought across the border, Power said they have different destinations, including the Toronto area.
"Some guns stay in the Windsor area and some go down the highway," he said.
