Some clothing and about $45,000 worth of deactivated military machine guns were stolen from SEBARMS, an Edmonton-based army surplus and hunting gear store.
Owner Jim Osadczuk was notified Saturday by the alarm company and police were called.
“They took some clothing but they mostly took military deactivated firearms, collectable items,” Osadczuk said. “Machine guns, mostly… pretty big, like 25 pounds, a couple were lighter ones.
“But the 20 to 25-pound ones — they were big, big machine guns.”
The guns aren’t functional and can’t be used to shoot, but Osadczuk is worried they could be used in connection with other crimes.
“Somebody uses it to pretend… If they go to rob a bank with this thing, it’s going to look like a real gun,” he explained. “There’s fear out there.
“But I think most of them will end up in collectors’ hands. I don’t know if they’ll try to use it in a crime.”
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Osadczuk said the most expensive item stolen was a $14,000 MAG58.
“That one will be tough to sell because it’s so unique,” he said.
He said the other firearms taken range in price and included an MG42, VZ58, VZ49 and two BRENS. He said the least expensive one was about $1,200.
“Collectors buy them,” Osadczuk said. “I’ve even sold them to movie companies because… they want something that looks real but doesn’t work.
“All the internal parts are removed or destroyed and then it’s all welded up so nothing moves. So it just looks like the gun but it doesn’t function and is impossible to make function.”
This isn’t the first time SEBARMS has been targeted by thieves. Last summer, Osadczuk said several handguns were stolen. Since then, security on the working firearms has been enforced, but that didn’t stop the suspects from trying to access them this weekend.
“They tried to get into them,” Osadczuk said. “They bent some bars but they were unable to get into them. No working firearms, guns were stolen. Our security on them has increased after the last break in so now we’ve got it so they can’t get them. I thought they wouldn’t come back.
“I think that because they couldn’t get the real ones, they just weren’t leaving empty handed,” he added.