An arsenal seized in the basement of a Montrealer

A dozen firearms without serial numbers, silencers and plenty of ammunition. A Montrealer has been found guilty of having hidden a veritable arsenal in his basement. Already sentenced to five years in prison in 2014 for almost identical facts, Ziad Antoine Chamoun now faces a long prison sentence.

Louis-Samuel Perron
The Press

The 53-year-old was convicted on Monday of four counts, including possession of a loaded prohibited firearm and possession of prohibited devices. He did not technically plead guilty, preferring to admit that the prosecution had discharged its burden of proof.

The investigation began in January 2020, when the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) learned that Ziad Antoine Chamoun was carrying a firearm. The Montrealer was then arrested in a vehicle, during an operation carried out by the Tactical Intervention Group.

If he had no firearms on him, Ziad Antoine Chamoun however hid many models in his basement cluttered with furniture and boxes. His residence on rue Michel-Bibaud is located two blocks from the Marie de France college and the Saint-Joseph oratory.

The police thus got their hands on two rifles and eight carbines with integrated magazines, including brands Ruger, Parler-Hale and Simonov. Some of them were even charged, while others were equipped with a bayonet. Six home-made silencers and three high-capacity 30-round magazines were also seized.

Among all of these weapons, five are considered prohibited firearms due to the length of the barrel, indicates the summary of the facts presented in court. The numbers of all the guns, except one, were obliterated. Ziad Antoine Chamoun was also subject to an order prohibiting him from possessing firearms.

Second episode of its kind

This is the second time the Montrealer has been arrested with a worrying arsenal. He had been sentenced to five years in prison in 2014 in a very similar case. The police had found at his home, in Pierrefonds, a dozen firearms, more than 500 bullets, chargers and Molotov cocktails. There were even Ontario Provincial Police shirts. His residence was probably used as a hiding place for a criminal group.

At the time, Ziad Antoine Chamoun was a car salesman. According to the Registraire des entreprises, between 2016 and 2019 he managed a trucking and transport company named Gamma Canada. However, it has since been removed.

M^e Claude Berlinguette-Auger represents the public prosecutor in this case, while M^e Anna Ouahnich defends the accused. Sentencing submissions are scheduled for next November.