A Toronto man has been arrested and charged after police found 71 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition in a home near Eglinton Avenue West and Kipling Avenue.

Toronto police began the investigation in January after receiving a report about a man who was allegedly "in possession of an illegal firearm."

When officers obtained a search warrant and entered the man's home, they discovered 25 handguns, 46 rifles and shotguns and approximately 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

The 56-year-old Toronto resident is now facing 15 charges, including possession of unauthorized firearms, possession of firearms obtained by crime and the careless storage of firearms and ammunition.

The majority of the seized weapons are rifles and shotguns. (Toronto Police Service)

One of the weapons was allegedly stolen after a break-and-enter in York Region in early January 2018.

"The fact that we've taken these guns off the street is a significant piece of work," said Supt. Ron Taverner, who added that some of the weapons had been "altered in different ways."

Taverner said police do not have an indication about how the guns might have been used.

"You can speculate all kinds of things that could happen but we don't know what the intentions were," he said.

While Taverner called the collection of weapons "very scary," he said it's far from the largest seizure he's seen during his career.

"Unfortunately, it's probably middle of the pack," he said.

The charged man was scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 31.