'Favoured by organized crime': Police seize 3D-printed guns, printers in rural Alberta
Police showed off a portion of the nearly 100 firearms they recently seized from rural Alberta Wednesday morning, including 11 guns that were 3D printed.
"These illegal firearms are produced without serial numbers, without any meaningful testing, with no licensing requirements and without regard for public safety," said Insp. Brad Lundeen with Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT).
"For the most part, these are fully-functional firearms being produced in our neighbourhoods."
Officers allege they found the guns while searching seven homes in Grande Prairie, Penhold, Innisfail, Brooks, Lloydminster and Lac Ste. Anne County.
Eight 3D printers, 45 gun parts, 72 long-barrelled guns, eight handguns, suppressors, bump stocks and over-capacity magazines were found in addition to the 3D-printed guns, police said.
Lundeen said ALERT has identified "several suspects" but no arrests have been made as the guns are still being processed and officers are still investigating.
He added there is evidence that 3D-printed guns were being sold out of the homes they were produced in.
"What you're seeing are handguns, sub-machine guns, suppressors. The types of weapons favoured by organized crime for their ability to be easily acquired and go undetected," Lundeen said.
The search warrants were executed as part of Project Reproduction, led by Montreal’s Équipe intégrée de lutte au trafic d'armes (EILTA), which aimed to crack down on the manufacturing and trafficking of privately-made firearms.
Two weeks ago, RCMP confirmed that approximately 440 firearms were seized (both traditional and 3D-printed) and 45 people were arrested as part of Project Reproduction searches across Alberta, including Calgary and Edmonton.
With files from CTV News Calgary's Timm Bruch and Melissa Gilligan
Firearms seized by ALERT are displayed at a press conference in Edmonton on July 5, 2023. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
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