TORONTO -- More than 1,700 military rifles and ammunition for them have been seized by Canadian and U.S. police in one of the largest cross-border weapons smuggling cases ever exposed, Toronto police said Tuesday.
Police said the weapons, including three machine guns and 1,709 M1 Grand Rifles, were similar to those used by the U.S. military forces in World War II and in the Korean War. All are believed to be in good working order.Police also confiscated 39 illegal high-capacity M1 magazine cartridges, 100 M1 Grand Barrels and 21,139 receivers for the rifles in separate searches in Toronto, Montreal and Reno, Nev.
Police said Paul Gardner of Kingston, Tenn., and Jerome June, of Rochester, N.Y., were arrested in connection with the case and face charges of possession of restricted weapons. They were both released from custody and will appear in a Canadian court Thursday.
A third suspect was still being sought.
Toronto police spokesman Sgt. Frederick Ellarby said the weapons would probably be destroyed.
"The guns will probably be destroyed, but it is all up to the courts," he told Reuters.
The arrests follow a yearlong investigation by the Ontario Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit, the Toronto Police Firearms Office, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Canadian and the U.S. customs services.
Police refused to comment on why the guns were being smuggled.
Toronto Police Superintendent Ron Taverner of the Special Investigation Services, was expected to release more details about the case at a news conference later Tuesday.