Police seize 3D-printed 'ghost guns' in B.C. Interior
2 men are facing charges for their alleged involvement
Border officers report so-called "ghost guns'' made from 3D-printed parts have been seized in the B.C. Interior, after international deliveries were intercepted at mail centres 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 relation to the smuggled firearms parts and discovered a 3D printing machine in the process of printing a handgun frame.
The agency says six completed handgun frames, all without serial numbers, were seized at the property.
The CBSA says it searched a property in Lumby, B.C., the next day and seized a loaded 9-mm handgun with no serial number, nine non-restricted long guns, a prohibited knife, a stun gun and four canisters of ammunition.
It says the two men arrested during the raids have been released pending further investigation.
In July, a Winnipeg man was arrested and charged with several offences related to manufacturing and trafficking a 3D-printed gun and gun parts. A few months earlier, police in Saskatoon charged a man with manufacturing restricted firearms using components made with a 3D printer.
It is illegal to make guns or gun frames without a firearms manufacturing licence in Canada.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says in a statement that "ghost guns,'' which lack serial numbers, pose a "serious risk'' because they are easy to make and difficult to trace.
Smuggling firearms into Canada is punishable by a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $500,000 fine.
With files from CBC News