Image: Canada Border Services Agency

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Foreign national convicted

Foreign national convicted of trying to enter B.C. with 6 undeclared guns, CBSA says man ‘may be’ removed from Canada

Mar 9, 2026 | 9:44 AM

VICTORIA — The Canada Border Services Agency says a 44-year-old foreign national has been sentenced to four years in prison after he tried to enter British Columbia with six undeclared firearms in his vehicle.

However, the CBSA can’t say the man whether the foreign national will be definitively removed from Canada once he’s done serving his prison term.

According to a statement from the federal agency, 44-year-old Reuben Velasquez sought entry into Canada at the Belleville Ferry Terminal in Victoria, B.C., on Sept. 1, 2023. Velasquez was referred by the CBSA for examination after declaring multiple firearms.

The agency says CBSA officers conducted a search of his vehicle and found him to be travelling with six undeclared firearms. CBSA investigators subsequently charged Velasquez for several offences under the Criminal Code.

Following a Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) investigation, Reuben Velasquez, a 44-year-old foreign national, was sentenced on February 3, 2026, in Williams Lake Provincial Court to four years imprisonment after being convicted of the following firearms-related charges:

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• One count of Possession of a loaded, prohibited or restricted firearm without authorization or license, contrary to s. 95(1) of the Criminal Code;
• One count of Unauthorized possession of a firearm, contrary to s. 91(1) of the Criminal Code.

The border agency wrote in its statement that as a foreign national, “Velasquez may be subject to removal from Canada upon completion of his sentence.”

The agency says smuggling and other Customs Act, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, and Criminal Code contraventions may lead to arrest, criminal charges and prosecution. For foreign nationals this may mean removal from Canada, and a ban on returning to Canada.

In 2025, CBSA officers in British-Columbia made 2,640 seizures of firearms, weapons and prohibited devices.