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It was a planned stop by border guards on the Canadian side of the Rainbow Bridge, a steel arch over the Niagara Gorge connecting New York State to Ontario; if it had not been for a tip from Toronto police, the van with a Canadian couple and their two children inside might well have blended in with other travellers and a concealed arsenal may have slipped through.

Rainbow Bridge is popular with tourists and vacationers because all commercial trucks are diverted to other, less scenic, crossings.

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As it was, on Sunday, March 16, the van was stopped and searched by Canada Border Services Agency officials. Six handguns were found hidden inside and a seventh pistol found on the father, according to police.

Also found were two hand grenades, ammunition and over-capacity magazines for holding bullets and knives, police said. Until the hand grenades were found to be inert, several lanes of the border crossing were closed.