Housekeeping staff at a Toronto hotel contacted police after finding three guns in a room last week, according to Toronto police. Investigators then found more than twenty additional firearms in the same room.
Officers were called at approximately 3 p.m. on Aug. 21 after a number of firearms were found in a hotel room in the area of York Mills and Don Mills roads, police said.
Hotel staff told investigators three guns had been found while the room was being cleaned. Officers subsequently located the weapons and sealed the room.
Police obtained and executed a search warrant later the same day and found an additional 25 firearms in the room, police confirmed in a news release.
During a press conference on Monday morning, Superintendent Steve Watts said the firearms displayed before him were a combination of “prohibited and restricted predominantly glock type handguns.”
In total, officers seized 20 Glock Pistols, four Springfield Armory Pistols, three Smith & Wesson Pistols and oneSig Sauer Pistol, including magazines, police said.
Police added that a number of the guns have been traced back to the southern United States.
(Courtesy: Toronto Police Services)
Watts said the guns found last Monday were “100 per cent destined for our streets in Toronto, and as a result of this seizure they can not be used to take someone else’s life and severely injure and maim people.“
Watts described the seizure as “significant,” noting there has been a total of 382 gun seizures in Toronto to date so far in 2023, and a total of 1,301 seizures province-wide.
Ahmed Farah, 30, of Ottawa, has been arrested and is facing more than 130 charges, including Possess Restricted or Prohibited Firearm Without Holding a Licence, Store Firearm Carelessly and Knowingly Possess Firearm for Transfer, among others.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is being asked to contact police at 416-808-3300, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.
