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U.S. Missing Minors Intercepted At Coutts Border

Sep 22, 2016 | 1:10 PM

COUTTS – The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) is reporting the recovery of two missing children at the southern Alberta Coutts border.

On Aug. 15, officers at the Coutts border crossing conducted a search of a pickup truck, and seized three undeclared guns: a prohibited 9mm pistol, a rifle and a shotgun.

After arresting the two minors in the vehicle, officers searched the minors names in the national crime information center, a F.B.I. information system.

Officers discovered that both minors had been reported as missing children in the United States.

After notifying the local U.S. sheriff’s office, officers transferred custody of the two children to U.S. Customers and Border Protection. The minors were then reunited with their parents.

The occupants of the truck have not been named.

Luke Reimer, Communications Officers Canada Border Agency, said that he does not anticipate chargers to result in Canada for the undeclared guns, as the case was handed over to U.S. authorities, and each undeclared gun case is dependent on several variables.

“It really depends on the case. What you are looking at when it comes to undeclared firearms is significant monetary penalties. Generally speaking, for failing to declare a handgun there is a $1000 fine per gun. There can also be criminal charges including smuggling and making false cases which can result in fines up to $5000.

Reimer noted that the CBSA typically sees a rise in undeclared gun seizures over the summer season.

“We have a lot more tourist traffic coming into Canada and going to Alaska. In western Canada half of the guns seized last year were linked to U.S. citizens traveling going to or coming from Alaska.”

The CBSA also released a sample of August highlights from its border crossing in southern Alberta.

According to a CBSA press release on Sept. 22, there were a total of 16 undeclared firearms seized at the Coutts border crossing, including 11 in a span of less than 24 hours between August 26 and 27.

Officers at the seasonal Chief Mountain border crossing arrested a Utah man on August 19 after seizing a prohibited .45-calibre pistol from his pickup truck. The gun was found loaded in the centre console. The traveler paid a $1,000 penalty for failing to declare and was returned to the United States for committing an offense upon entry to Canada.

On August 26, RCMP officers intercepted a female U.S. resident who entered Canada on foot illegally near the Carway border crossing.

The CBSA had previously issued her an exclusion order in June, barring her from entering Canada for one year. She was turned over to CBSA officers, who issued her a deportation order, permanently barring her from entering Canada.

Officers at Coutts, Alberta’s busiest border crossing, refused entry to 53 foreign nationals in August.

At Carway, which processes the second-highest traffic volumes, officers refused entry to 33 foreign nationals.