An Ontario man faces two dozen charges after Canadian border services officers intercepted a package containing various knives and other prohibited weapons at Toronto Pearson Airport in Mississauga.
Additional charges were laid and weapons recovered in the wake of a subsequent police search of a home in Petrolia, Ont., some 25 kilometres southeast of Sarnia.
The Canada Border Services Agency said the series of events began Feb. 27 when it intercepted a package containing seven prohibited weapons that was destined for an address in Petrolia.
An agency spokesperson told INsauga.com in an email the package was discovered by a border services officer at a Pearson Airport cargo operations facility.
On March 19, officers with the CBSA and Ontario Provincial Police executed a search warrant at a Petrolia home and recovered a number of prohibited weapons there as well.
In total, the weapons recovered included:
- brass knuckles
- two automatic opening knives
- a brass knuckle knife
- a centrifugal opening knife with a thumb stud
- a conducted energy weapon (Taser)
- three butterfly knives
Phillip Grendel, 32, of Petrolia, is charged with:
- attempt to possess a prohibited weapon (seven counts)
- possession of a prohibited weapon (two counts)
- import a prohibited weapon knowing it’s unauthorized (seven counts)
- unauthorized importation of a prohibited weapon (seven counts)
- smuggling prohibited goods into Canada
He was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in Sarnia court on April 16.
Abeid Morgan, director of the CBSA’s Ontario Firearms Smuggling Enforcement Team, said officers work “around-the-clock to stop the flow of prohibited weapons and prevent violence.”
OPP Chief Supt. Mike Stoddart, who heads up the force’s Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, added “the cross-border movement of illegal commodities, including prohibited weapons, continues to threaten the safety of the communities we serve.”
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