On May 7, New York State Police observed an SUV driving erratically in upstate New York, and when the vehicle was stopped, police found it stuffed with 89 weapons, which they allege were en route to being smuggled to Canada. Images of the vehicle appear to show dozens of high-velocity weapons stuffed into a suitcase.
Three men, reported to be residents of Hamilton, Ontario, were arrested: 22 year-old Kamal Salman, 22 year-old Malik Bromfield, and 25 year-old Faizan Ali. According to the US Department of Justice, Salman holds U.S., Canadian and Jordanian citizenship, Bromfield is a Canadian citizen, while Ali is a citizen of Pakistan.
The men are charged with unlicensed firearm dealing and smuggling of goods, and while there is no indication as of yet of connections to other crimes being committed in Canada, given that the majority of gun crimes in Canada are estimated to originate from smuggled weapons in the U.S., the arrests serve as a potent reminder of ongoing and high-profile gun crimes in Canada.
Particularly following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 massacres in southern Israel, there has been an ongoing spate of gun crimes targeting Jewish Canadians, including attacks on synagogues, Jewish schools and Jewish-owned businesses, all part of a larger, apparently organized, effort by foreign actors – namely Iran – to harass and intimidate Canadians. In recent months, anti-regime Iranians in Canada have also been targeted.
Recognizing the high probability of the Iranian regime’s involvement in, and support for, anti-Jewish hate crimes, following the December, 2025 terrorist attack targeting Australians participating in a public menorah lighting in Sydney, Toronto city councillors James Pasternak and Mike Colle have repeatedly called for a task force led by the RCMP to help investigate this interference.
However, the councillors say that despite the passage of five months, and repeated calls for action, the RCMP has yet to initiate such a task force.
This is highly troublesome. Given that the Islamic Republic of Iran, both directly and via its proxies, has been shown to be highly innovative in finding avenues to harass opponents around the world, including members of the Iranian diaspora, the continued failure of both the federal government and the RCMP to meaningfully address Tehran’s interference in Canada is deeply worrying.
The May 7 arrests in New York, while not necessarily connected to terrorism, should serve as a stark reminder that the ability for terrorists, whether lone wolves or backed by the Iranian regime, to carry out murderous attacks on Canadian soil, is chillingly within reach.
As the councillors have pointed out, local police services are built to address local crime, not terrorism, and without meaningful leadership at the federal level, real progress against violent attacks and their foreign supporters will remain modest.
For more than two and a half years, lawmakers and security analysts have stated that federal officials have treated anti-Jewish hate crimes and terrorism in a vacuum and as isolated incidents to be managed, rather than part of a larger effort seeking to destabilize Canada and import extremist Islamist ideology onto Canadian streets and institutions, alongside acts of violence meant to intimidate opponents of this radicalism.
The seizure of nearly 90 weapons headed for Canada should shatter any illusions on the part of the news media, federal law enforcement and policymakers alike that the country is immune from potential acts of deadly terrorism as seen in France, the U.S., England, and Australia. The time has long passed to stop treating the symptoms of extremist ideology, and start addressing the disease.
