The Canada Border Services Agency has charged a Cottam, Ont., man with multiple firearm-related offences after an investigation that resulted in the seizure of 53 guns.
The CBSA’s Ontario Firearms Smuggling Enforcement Team (OFSET) began investigating the man after a previous firearm investigation by the CBSA that led to charges against another individual from nearby Windsor in September 2025.
The subsequent investigation indicated that 60-year-old Frank Charette allegedly conspired to smuggle firearm parts into Canada from the United States with the goal of manufacturing prohibited weapons.
“This arrest and criminal charges are the result of a lengthy investigation by investigators with CBSA’s Ontario Firearms Smuggling Enforcement Team, following the initial seizure by border services officers. This dedicated team is disrupting the inventory of illegal firearms in Canada,” said Trishann Pascal, executive director, Greater Toronto Area Region and national lead of combatting firearms smuggling for CBSA.
In May 2026, he was intercepted by border services officers at the Ambassador Bridge with unregulated firearm parts from the United States.
In collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s National Weapons Enforcement Support Team and the Ontario Provincial Police’s Emergency Response Team, OFSET executed multiple search warrants in Essex County on July 15, 2026, resulting in the seizure of 53 firearms.
This seizure included the following prohibited/restricted items:
- six unlawfully possessed handguns;
- two unregistered sub-machine guns;
- 116 cartridge magazines, 39 of which were over capacity; and
- one auto-sear (a device intended to convert a semi-automatic firearm into an automatic firearm).
Charette was arrested and charged by the CBSA with:
- One count of Smuggling Controlled Goods
- One count of Import Goods Without a Permit
- One count of Manufacture a Prohibited Firearm
- One count of Conspiracy to Manufacture a Firearm
- One count of Knowingly Possess a Prohibited Device
- One count of Knowingly Possess a Prohibited Firearm
- One count of Storage of a Non-Restricted Firearm Contrary to Regulations
- One count of Storage of a Restricted Firearm Contrary to Regulations
- One count of Storage of a Prohibited Firearm Contrary to Regulations
- One count of Knowingly Possess a Prohibited Firearm
He is scheduled to appear at the Windsor courthouse on Nov. 16, 2026.
