The residents of a suburban street in eastern London, Ontario, say they were surprised when the police officers strongly armed in tactical team descended in their quiet street and then put charges of manufacturing and smuggling of drugs against a father and son who had lived in the street for years.
The police raid occurred on May 29 in Fundy Avenue with a “intense and sudden” police presence before dawn that ended with the police grabbing homemade weapons, firearms pieces, a 3D printer and a variety of drugs.
“It happened very early in the morning,” said neighbor Alex Raemisch. “We saw the lights, the mermaids and a lot of activity.”
The small circle of houses is a very close community, according to another neighbor Rachel Chew. There is a community basketball network for children on the street, and the neighbors have garage and barbecue sales together, he added.
“This place is a beautiful place at night and on weekends,” he said.
The surprise raid included tactical officers and police dogs that swarmed the little bungalow around 5 in the morning, the neighbors said.
Benito Schiavone, 33, and his father, Modesto Dino Schiavone, 57, now face positions related to smuggling and the manufacture of weapons and prohibited devices. They will also be accused of drug possession when they appear in court, authorities said.
When CBC News knocked on the door of the accused men, Schiavone Mayor replied but refused to speak. He returned home on the same day as he and his son were arrested, according to the neighbors.
The two men were rarely seen by the neighbors, and the house belonged to another family member, said Chew, added that it was angry because the illegal activity could have been happening next to it.
“You don’t know what that could bring,” he said. “This is our little center … and I think that is just an insult to what we are trying to build together.”
More 3D weapons are seized
The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) worked with the London Police to investigate the two men and carry out the raid. Initially, the two men were marked in October 2024 when the packages containing a silencer and a 50 -round magazine were intercepted in an email processing installation in Mississauga, Ontario, authorities said.
While the raid was a shock for neighbors, similar searches are produced about six times a year in suburban homes, said Abid Morgan, director of the CBSA Ontario Fire Control Team.
“It is only its average neighborhood where we see that much of this type of firearms manufacturing, especially using 3D printers,” he explained. “From time to time, narcotics are also seized.”
As of 2019, CBSA began to see that 3D printed weapons appear regularly, Morgan said, added that as printing technology progresses and can make increasingly capable weapons, it is becoming quite common.
Non -traceable ghost guns, made with a 3D printer, are a growing part of crime throughout Canada. Ellen Mauro de CBC has exclusive access to how the police are trying to get ahead of the trend and criminals making arms themselves.
While the exact number of firearms seized during Fundy Avenue’s raid was unknown, it was at the “upper end of the average,” Morgan said. The seized articles included:
- Firearms manufactured in private
- Firearms parts
- A 3D printer
- 35 grams of cocaine
- 24.5 grams of carps
- Oxycodone and boric acid
The defendant is expected to appear in the London Court before the end of July, facing eight positions of each of an unauthorized possession of a prohibited firearm, four charges each of the prohibited smuggling devices, four unauthorized import positions of a forbidden device and two positions each of the manufacturers of a squirrel of prohibited fire.
