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Summary

The CBSA Has Revealed What They Seized In 2021 & Why Are People Travelling With Crossbows?

Brass knuckles, morning stars, and more made the list.

Senior Writer

The Canada Border Services Agency has just revealed everything they seized in 2021, and honestly, some of the items are pretty wild.

On Friday, December 10, the government agency shared a national year in review from January 1 to the end of October, that detailed all of the things they took possession of at the border, such as drugs, weapons and other illegal materials.

908 firearms were seized, including antique firearms, revolvers, rifles, pistols, handguns, shotguns, and other items.

As for other weapons that aren't firearms, that's where things get a little strange.

32,930 items were seized, like brass knuckles, one-handed use crossbows, morning stars (which is a medieval-looking mace-like weapon) and stun guns. Yikes.

Other things that made the list include tasers, tear gas/pepper spray, shurikens (a type of blade that you throw) and blowguns.

“CBSA employees have accomplished so much over the past year – they diligently kept our country and its citizens safe, while facilitating the flow of travellers and goods," said CBSA president John Ossowski.

Weapons aren't the only thing the CBSA had to deal with. Over $350 million dollars worth of drugs tried to make their way into the country too, and that's excluding cannabis.

About $115 million in cocaine, $39 million in heroin, and over $800,000 in fentanyl were seized by the government. An additional $66 million in other opioids was taken, including opium, methadone, morphine and morphine base.

As well, 40 child pornography seizures happened in 2021.

Other than that, they also dealt with over 13 million travellers by air, highway, marine and air.

Sounds like a busy year!

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

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    • Senior Writer

      Sarah Rohoman (she/her) was a Senior Writer with Narcity Media. She has worked at BuzzFeed Canada, Yahoo Canada, and CBC Radio in news, lifestyle, ecommerce, and social media. She has an MA in Journalism from Western University and a BA from McGill. She loves libraries, alpacas, and all things witchy.

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