Police say a joint Canada-U.S. law enforcement unit has shut down an international smuggling and trafficking ring that has been sneaking prohibited weapons across the Alberta-Montana border.

Police say a joint Canada-U.S. law enforcement unit has shut down an international smuggling and trafficking ring that has been sneaking prohibited weapons across the Alberta-Montana border.

An RCMP spokesman says the Rocky Mountain Integrated Border Enforcement Team has recovered 14 prohibited guns and assorted prohibited weapons and arrested three individuals — two in Billings, Mont., and the other in Lethbridge, Alta.

“Unfortunately there are people that are using both sides of Canada and the U.S. to commit crimes and we’ve been able to cohesively deal with both sides of the border,” Staff Sgt. Gordon Sage from the RCMP Border Integrity Section said Friday.

“The ones in the United States were all handguns. Up in Canada, there were handguns ... brass knuckles ... a Taser and other prohibited weapons that under the Criminal Code people cannot possess.”

The gun-smuggling ring was based in Lethbridge, a city of 70,000 people about 100 kilometres from the U.S. border. The largely unguarded area has been a beacon for smuggling dating back to the Prohibition when the region was a regular route for rum runners.

The two accused arrested in Billings were attending a gun show and had purchased a dozen firearms, including 9-mm, .45- and .380-calibre handguns.

“We believe it’s coming into organized crime,” said Sage.

It’s believed smugglers would drive to a remote area on the Montana side of the border and drop off someone, who would walk across with the weapons and then get picked up on the other side.

“The border’s a big area from one side to the other. There are certain areas that we’re aware of and we target those areas,” said Sage.

“Did we get the very first shipment? I like to think maybe we did, but I’ve been in the business too long to realize that other ones have come through.”

Charges laid in Canada against Shawn Aaron Locke, 26, of Lethbridge include two counts of conspiracy to traffic firearms, plus additional charges related to firearms and other weapons. He is to return to court in Lethbridge on April 7.

Harley Clifford Combres, 28, and Caley Dawn Sinclair, 23, also of Lethbridge, are charged in the U.S. with unlawfully possessing firearms.

Sage said it’s too soon to say if any other arrests will be made.

The investigation included Canadian and United States law enforcement officers, the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, Canadian Border Services Agency and the RCMP.