Montana
Canadian Man Sentenced For Gun Smuggling: Inside The Trafficking Scheme
A Canadian man is being ordered to spend a year and a half in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to a scheme to buy guns in several Montana cities and then take them back across the border to sell.
The sentencing comes this week in U.S. District Court, a few weeks after the defendant pled guilty.
It marks the latest case where someone tried to take firearms that are more readily available in the states, and then take them back to sell on the black market in Canada, where certain guns are in high demand due to Canadian regulations.
Montana officers can confiscate your guns for this specific reason
How did the British Columbia man acquire the guns?
Federal prosecutors say 27-year-old Haptei Kozak or Kelowna, British Columbia had been accused of buying 12 handguns, mostly 9 millimeters, using an alias and a Montana driver’s license with a phony Missoula address. Prosecutors say he bought guns in Missoula, Kalispell, Butte, and Helena in a 45-day period starting last September.
Federal authorities say he was apprehended with the guns in his pickup last March in a case that involved US Customs and Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the US Attorney’s Office District of Montana.
A growing problem of black market weapons
There’s been a growing problem in the past few years of thieves attempting to acquire guns in the United States and then get them across the border. As the CBC has reported, guns that sell in the States for a few hundred dollars can be worth thousands of dollars in Canada.
U.S. Attorney for Montana, Jessie Laslovich, says the case is part of an “epidemic of gun violence” both nationally and internationally, saying gun crime “knows no boundaries.”
“The courts have delivered a firm and unwavering message to those who seek to profit from violence and chaos,” said HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Tim Lenzen. “Let this be a clear warning: we will not tolerate those who fuel crime through the black market. We will find you, you will be prosecuted, and justice will prevail.”