HUNTER: Lack of consequences in Canada for smuggling make it a criminal’s dream

There has been a slew of busts along the Canada-U.S. frontier: Guns, drugs and human beings

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Published May 15, 2026  •  Last updated 15 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Vermont man Justin Jackson faces a long jolt in prison for gun smuggling. USDOJ

The mathematical formula used by a lot of criminals is pretty simple.

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Reward minus risk equals boffo bucks. In Canada, the bad guys don’t even need a calculator, they can do the tally in their heads.

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Recently, there has been a slew of busts along the Canada-U.S. frontier. Guns, drugs and human beings. If you get caught in Canada, you’re sound as a pound. But once you cross the 49th parallel, the consequences are hiked.

The enterprising criminal may never see the light of day again.

Some of the guns recovered in the bust. USDOJ

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire said it had dismantled an international gun smuggling ring that allegedly brought in guns through the Indigenous reserves straddling the border.

Some of the illegal guns were later recovered at violent crime scenes and have been linked to organized crime in this country. Plotters used straw purchasers to buy the guns in the U.S.

Hard time awaits in a U.S. prison

The DOJ has charged eight people for their alleged role in the scheme. Five others — Justin Jackson, Melissa Longe, Dustin Tuttle, Caleb Wilcott and Doug Mulligan — already pleaded guilty for their participation.

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They are staring down the barrel of a caper-crushing 25 years in prison along with US$250,000 fines.

Consequences.

Faizan Ali, wanted by cops, was allegedly confident enough to cross into the U.S. to smuggle guns. HPS

And Faizan “Deezy” Ali, 25, of Hamilton, likely used the same formula. He’s not even a Canadian citizen and was confident enough to allegedly attempt to smuggle 89 guns into the country for the purpose of murder.

The Pakistani man who did a runner while awaiting sentencing on other criminal matters was arrested with two other Hamilton men, Malik Bromfield and Kamal Salman, near Albany earlier this month.

Our hero has been on the run from cops in Hamilton since 2024 in connection with the death of a motorcyclist. He was also facing an 11-year sentence for weapons and drug offences. He was released on bail and didn’t show up for sentencing.

Ali would have been out of the joint pretty quickly here. Not so the U.S. Possibly 25 hard years lie ahead and there will be no soft-as-a-kitten activist judge to help him.

Consequences.

Truckers’ sob stories work here, not there

A small army of South Asian truckers believed they could fatten their wallets by bringing loads of drugs and guns into Canada. It all works beautifully, replete with sob stories spewed out by community members.

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But the calculation goes into disarray if you’re pinched in Buffalo or Detroit.

Consequences.

An image released by the U.S. Justice Department shows a pickup prosecutors say was owned by Timothy Oakes carrying a boat on March 29, 2023. The boat was used by Oakes’s brother Casey Oakes to transport a Romanian family when it sank in the St. Lawrence River, killing the family and Casey Oakes.

Timothy Oakes’ calculator was also busted. The 35-year-old Akwesasne man pleaded guilty for his role in a human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of eight migrants on the St. Lawrence River in 2023. He copped to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for financial gain, and four counts of alien smuggling resulting in death.

The U.S. said Oakes was one of the masterminds. Nine people drowned in the river, including his own brother. He faces between five years and life in prison.

Consequences.

Given the ease and multitude of loopholes to get into Canada, we shouldn’t be surprised when illegals waltz into the country. And then are smuggled into the U.S.

Edgar Sanchez-Solis. US DOJ

Illegal Mexican national Edgar Sanchez-Solis, 24, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and five counts of alien smuggling for commercial advantage and private financial gain, according to the DOJ.

The play was to smuggle Mexicans who were on flimsy visitor’s visas in Canada into the United States. Cops say he smuggled “hundreds” of aliens from Mexico, Central and South America over the border into the U.S.

Was he worried? No. He even had his human cargo make testimonial videos. He faces between five and 15 years in the slammer.

Consequences. We should try it.

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@HunterTOSun

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