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This handout photo shows weapons and ammunition seized by the RCMP. HO/The Canadian Press
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer said at the murder conspiracy trial that multiple weapons were found inside a travel trailer parked near the 2022 border closure in Coutts, Alberta.
Sergeant Gary McLaren testified Thursday that he went inside the trailer on Feb. 14, 2022, after the police emergency response team had removed it.
“There was an assault rifle on the bed in the master bedroom, a shotgun on a bench in the kitchen area, a portable radio and some bear spray,” McLaren said.
“Continuing further into the trailer, we entered a back room and found another assault rifle on the top bunk to the right, along with a green tactical vest and a box of ammunition on the floor.”
Another rifle and ammunition were found under a mattress in the bedroom.
Officers also found a machete, two bulletproof vests, a driver's license and a firearms license belonging to one of the suspects, Chris Carvert.
Carvert and Anthony Olienik were charged with conspiracy to murder after police searched the trailer and two other vehicles parked on Coutts' property.
The trial revealed that the landowner had given permission for the two defendants and other protesters to stay there.
Officer Bruce Gamie, part of the team that removed the trailer, testified that when officers arrived, they used a “loud hailing” vehicle to demand that everyone inside the trailer get out.
He said he saw movement inside and about five minutes later a man came out.
The man closed the door and was handcuffed at police request, Gammie said, adding that the man was later identified as Carvert.
Officers said no one else was inside the trailer.
Undercover agents previously testified that Olynyk viewed the blockade as a war and expressed hatred of police and a desire to kill officers.
Olienik also said he had a stockpile of weapons, including dozens of firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition, the report said.
Jurors viewed video and dozens of photos taken inside the trailer, including a handgun in a holder next to the rifle in the bunk.
A backpack containing .223 caliber ammunition was found in the closet, and a box containing 500 rounds of ammunition was on the floor.
Mr Carvert's lawyer, Katherine Beyak, expressed concern that Mr McLaren had referred to the rifle as an “assault-style” weapon.
Judge David Labrenz warned jurors not to overinterpret the term.
“Language can seep into your thinking if you're not careful,” he said.
“If you describe something as an assault rifle, you shouldn't let that description distract you from your job of determining what the firearm being referred to means in the context of all the evidence.”
Blockades in protest against COVID-19 restrictions and vaccination mandates have paralyzed traffic at busy Canada-U.S. border crossings for two weeks.
