Arrests made in firearms smuggling investigation
Posted Jan 12, 2023 10:00:00 PM.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)-led Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit (PWEU) has laid numerous charges after executing a warrant in the Akwesasne Mohawk First Nation.
This was part of an ongoing investigation which follows a Sept. 7, 2022 seizure of more than 40 firearms from a vehicle on Highway-401 near Prescott.
On Jan. 11, 2023 PWEU members, supported by the OPP Tactics and Rescue Unit, Emergency Response Team and Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, executed a search warrant at a residence on International Road. Officers seized ammunition, a laptop and cell phones and arrested two individuals. One individual was arrested by OPP Emergency Response Team members in Cornwall and a fourth person turned themselves in to police.
Jordan Lazore, 30, and Amanda Poirier, 33, both residents of the Akwesasne First Nation, Brandon Laffin, 38,and Jennifer O'Byrne, 35, both residents of Cornwall, are each charged with:
- Possession for the purpose of weapons trafficking
- Importing a firearm knowing it is unauthorized
- Unauthorized importing of a firearm
- Conspiracy to commit and indictable offence
Lazore is additionally charged with careless storage of a firearm and Porier is also charged with possession of a schedule 1 substance (opioid).
Lazore and Laffin were scheduled to appear for bail hearings on Jan. 12, 2023 before the Ontario Court of Justice in Cornwall. Poirier and O'Byrne were released and are scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Cornwall on March 14, 2023.
The investigation also involved the Cornwall Police Service, Canada Border Services Agency and the United States Homeland Security Investigations
If you have information about suspicious cross-border activity, please contact the CBSA Border Watch Line at 1-888-502-9060.
