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The high-powered rifles seized are “capable of inflicting death or serious injuries on a large number of people” while handguns are linked to gang activity on the streets of Ottawa, he said.

The seven-month probe aimed at high-level drug and gun trafficking began in May and targeted separate operations in Ottawa, Gatineau and Clarence-Rockland, about 40 kilometres east of Ottawa.

Police executed eight search warrants Monday, half-a-dozen in Clarence-Rockland, including one that emptied a shipping container packed with drugs, one in Gatineau and one at Budlakoti’s west-end Ottawa home.

The guns, drugs and wads of cash they seized covered a long table at the Kanata OPP detachment.

The guns seized included an AR-15 assault rifle, SKS semi-automatic rifle with a bayonet, an Uzi submachine-gun, half a dozen handguns and ammunition.

The drugs included 156,000 methamphetamine pills packed into pillow-sized clear plastic bags. Other items seized included a studded wooden club, a swastika-emblazoned butterfly knife and brass knuckles.

Police also have vast amounts of documentary evidence to trace and technology to unlock, Sullivan said.

“We keep going on this investigation — it’s never over,” he said, adding that police are trying to trace the guns with the help of the American Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“There are a lot of leads and still a lot of work to do.”

Supt. Chris Renwick of Ottawa police said the firearms will be tested to see if they can be linked to other crimes and that it’s a step toward a safer city to get those guns, which are typically either smuggled from the United States or diverted from legal owners in Canada, off the streets.