Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is reporting that as the result of an extensive investigation beginning in 2024, a Manitoba man has now been convicted for weapons smuggling.
During the summer of 2024, the CBSA Manitoba Integrated Firearm Enforcement Team (IFET) began an investigation into 47-year old Mark Sobry after CBSA officers at the Vancouver and Mississauga international mail centres intercepted two separate shipments containing prohibited stun guns.
In September of the same year, CBSA IFET officers, with the assistance of the RCMP Emergency Response Team, executed a search at Sobry’s property in Kelwood. The search resulted in the seizure of a stun gun, seven prohibited shuriken throwing knives, also known as throwing stars or ninja stars, and 10 non-restricted long rifles with several rounds of ammunition and re-loading supplies.
CBSA says that the weapons seized during the search were in breach of a court imposed condition that Sobry could not possess any prohibited weapons.
On October 7, 2025, Mark Sobry, a 47-year old resident of Kelwood, Manitoba, pleaded guilty in Minnedosa Provincial Court to smuggling prohibited weapons into Canada. He was convicted of smuggling prohibited weapons into Canada, contrary to section 159(1) of the Customs Act, and importing prohibited weapons, contrary to section 104(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.
On December 16, Sobry received a 20-month conditional sentence along with a 10-year weapons prohibition and ordered to provide a DNA sample.
“Today’s conviction is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of the CBSA Integrated Firearm Enforcement Team and our intelligence and criminal investigators in Manitoba,” said Janalee Bell-Boychuk, Regional Director General, Canada Border Services Agency, Prairie Region. “I’d also like to thank our law enforcement partners, the Manitoba RCMP, for their assistance in this case.”
