Police in Canada intercept drone from US carrying shopping bag full of handguns

Nearly a dozen handguns were found inside the shopping bag

Police in Canada's Ontario began a probe after intercepting a drone with a shopping bag full of guns that crossed the border from the United States.

Officers with the Ontario Provincial Police were intimated after the drone carrying 11 handguns got stuck in a tree near Port Lambton, a small village located 60 miles from Detroit.

"How are illegal guns reaching the hands of criminals in Canada? Recently, [police] found that drones are being used to carry the prohibited guns over from the United States," the Ontario Provincial Police West Region tweeted on Tuesday.

The authorities shared images of the sic-rotor drone and a black firearm with a missing serial number. The third image showed a shopping bag attached with metal carabiners and electrical tape.

"Our neighbour had spotted someone in our yard in the middle of the night and he had a remote control,” Christine Ackwood, on whose property the bag got stuck, told CTV News.

“He wasn't sure what was going on.”

Ms Ackwood added that the stranger in the yard was "spooked" by the neighbour and lost control of the drone following which it crashed into the trees in their backyard. The drone pilot then ran away after jumping into a waiting vehicle.

The Ackwoods said they were on a trip to Las Vegas and only found out about the incident after being contacted by the police.

"We weren't sure if they'd done it before. The police never did say that to us but we were kind of curious if they knew - if they spotted out that we were away,” Jeremy Ackwood said.

According to reports, authorities suspect that the drone travelled from Michigan in the US across the St Clair river.

Due to prohibitions, firearms are often smuggled into Canada by roads in trucks and passenger vehicles to dodge authorities.