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ALERT charge two in Edmonton after homemade guns seized

Aug 24, 2017 | 11:20 AM

EDMONTON — The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) has arrested and charged two Edmonton residents after seizing four prohibited firearms, including two homemade machine guns, following an eight-month investigation.

ALERT Edmonton’s Guns and Gangs unit concluded the investigation last Thursday, arrested Jacob Balan, 37 and Amy Brogden, 29. Edmonton Police Service and RCMP also searched two homes in Edmonton and a property in Parkland County, where is is believed the guns were being manufactured.

Police seized four prohibited firearms, including two homemade MAC-11 submachine guns outfitted with suppressors and oversized magazines., along with a modified Suomi submachine gun with two oversized magazines and a Beretta equipped with a suppressor.

Police allege the MAC-11s were manufactured in a professional grade machinist shop, unbeknownst to the shop’s owner. The guns were fully automatic, with one trigger pull resulting in the entire magazine of 30 rounds being fired in seconds.

The investigation is ongoing as to how many MAC-11s were manufactured, but it is believed some of the weapons have found their way to the criminal market.

Balan and Brogden have both been charged with six counts of knowingly possessing a prohibited device, six counts of possession of a prohibited device for the purpose of trafficking, six counts of trafficking a prohibited device, four counts of knowingly possessing a prohibited firearm, four counts of firearms trafficking, four counts of possession of a firearm for the purpose of trafficking and one count of making an automatic firearm.

The two were released from custody and are scheduled to return to court on September 18.