14-12-05, 21:16
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Winnipeg WW2 cache found ...
Hmmmm ... I wonder who will end up taking some of these treasures home? or will this guy be allowed to keep his own collection intact and take 'em home again? I hope he get's them back. ... Ma 
Quote:
December 14, 2005
Arms cache found by cops
Cannon, machine-guns in suite
By TAMARA KING, STAFF REPORTER
Jacqueline Chaput, Winnipeg Police Service public information officer, holds a Bren gun found in apartment. (Marcel Cretain, Sun)
It didn't turn out to be a typical tenant dispute.
City cops trying to break up a fight at an Ellice Avenue apartment Monday night came across a cache of unregistered weapons that included a miniature cannon and machine-guns from the Second World War -- many of which were functional.
Police arrested the alleged owner, who they say is not a registered collector.
Though small at eight inches tall and 12 inches wide, the fully working Traditions .50-calibre cannon packs a powerful punch.
"I've never seen one that actually works," Winnipeg police Det. Paul Brown of the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team told the Sun yesterday.
"It's significant in the fact we have some real guns in this ... three machine-guns is quite significant," Brown said while the weapons were on display at Winnipeg's main police station yesterday morning.
Among the three machine-guns was a Bren gun Mark 1 -- a heavy-duty machine-gun used by British and Canadian soldiers in the Second World War. Some were kept by soldiers after 1945, Brown said.
An automatic Sten gun and a more modern FN machine-gun, also displayed by police, were Canadian military combat weapons, confirmed a local weapons expert, who asked the Sun not to print his name.
Understands concern
Officers also seized more than 20 knives, a dozen swords, several pellet guns, a Russian bolt-action rifle, a gas mask, an air gun, a dart gun, a slingshot, a crossbow, a pair of black-powder muzzle loaders and various other types of ammunition from the apartment, which is in the 500 block of Ellice Avenue.
The muzzle-loaders, which are likely replicas of models from about 1880-90, are legal, says the weapons expert.
While criminals aren't likely to use muzzle loaders and cannons as weapons, the weapons expert understands the concern of police who found them. "They could still put a pretty good hole through you," he said. "And you never know with criminals."
Ivan Alexander Shewchuk, 44, is facing numerous weapons charges, including careless use of firearms, weapons and ammunition as well as possessing firearms while prohibited.
In March 2002, Shewchuk was convicted in Selkirk of driving over .08. He was prohibited from driving for one year and owning weapons for five years.
Additional charges of possession of a dangerous weapon, uttering threats and impaired driving were stayed.
Shewchuk is in custody and will appear in court this morning.
A Winnipeg military expert said she's surprised by the arrest.
"I'd bet my Sunday supper he's allowed to have these guns," said Jamie Cline, who runs Marway Militaria. "He's been a collector for years," she said, adding her Sergeant Avenue store sells military uniforms and badges and does not deal in firearms.
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