border crossing

Florida woman caught crossing the U.S. border into Canada with 56 guns

It is a lot easier to cross the border from the U.S. into Canada now that lockdown restrictions have been lifted, but not if you have 56 guns in your trunk.

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced they nabbed a woman attempting to cross into Point Edward, near Sarnia, Ontario, at the Blue Water Bridge with contraband goods in her vehicle on Nov. 1.

The woman was referred for a secondary examination at the border. Officers then found 56 undeclared prohibited firearms, 13 over-capacity magazines, 43 ten-round pistol magazines and 100 rounds of ammunition — all in boxes in the trunk of the car. Everything was seized.

The CBSA seizes thousands of prohibited items at the border every year, but this is "one of the largest single firearm seizures in the Southern Ontario Region in recent history," the CBSA said.

So far this year, the CBSA has seized 509 firearms and 13,651 total seizures of everything from Cannabis to tobacco and jewellery.

Vivian Richards, 48, of Oakland Park, Florida, was charged in connection with the Nov. 1 gun seizure.

She faces a laundry list of charges, including:

  • Making false or deceptive statements
  • Evading compliance
  • Keeping, acquiring, disposing of goods illegally imported
  • Attempting to smuggle
  • Unauthorized possession of a firearm
  • Unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon or restricted weapon
  • Possession for the purpose of weapons trafficking
  • Importing or exporting knowing it is unauthorized
  • Possessing a firearm knowing that the serial number on it has been altered, defaced or removed

She is expected to appear in court on Nov. 24.

Lead photo by

Canada Border Services Agency


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