Guns, knives, cocaine and police gear seized by border services officers in Mississauga

A Vaughan man is facing dozens of charges after Canadian border services officers working out of Mississauga seized numerous guns, knives and other weapons, replica firearms, cocaine, counterfeit cash and a wide array of police gear including bulletproof vests and bogus law enforcement badges.

The long list of items recovered via several search warrants executed during the lengthy Canada Border Services Agency investigation also includes numerous clothing patches depicting law enforcement, intelligence and military logos, a complete police uniform, police identity cards, counterfeit police warrant cards, more than 70 rounds of ammunition, stun guns and sets of brass knuckles.

At a news conference earlier today at the CBSA Greater Toronto Area Region headquarters at Pearson Airport in Mississauga, officers revealed details of their extensive firearms probe that dates back to early this year.

They said the investigation began in March when border services officers working at the Vancouver International Mail Centre intercepted a package containing a prohibited weapon addressed to a residence in Vaughan.

Subsequent investigation linked that seizure to one from October 2021 involving a package containing prohibited weapons and a second seizure in February 2023 of a package containing a large number of counterfeit Canadian police service badges and other materials, the CBSA said in a news release.

In May of this year, a CBSA search warrant executed at a Vaughan home turned up “numerous police-marked paraphernalia that constituted a complete police uniform, including several ballistic vests, uniform components, police identity cards and law enforcement badges,” officers said.

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They also found one restricted firearm that had been reported stolen, four prohibited firearms, six replica firearms, more than 70 rounds of ammunition, five magazines, stun guns, brass knuckles, prohibited knives, some 30 grams of cocaine and more than $60,000 in counterfeit Canadian cash.

Joshua Newby, director of the CBSA’s Ontario Firearms Smuggling Enforcement Team, said the community is safer in the wake of the seizures.

“Firearms, weapons, narcotics, counterfeit currency and police uniform paraphernalia that could have been used to impersonate a law enforcement officer are now off the streets,” he said in the news release.

Mojeeb Ahmad Goraya, 38, of Vaughan, is facing 29 charges (multiple counts of some charges), including:

• possession of prohibited firearms
• possession of restricted firearms
• possession of counterfeit money
• possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose
• smuggling prohibited weapons into Canada (two counts)
• possession for the purpose of trafficking