ATF TO OPEN NEW OFFICE IN TORONTO
International Firearms Trafficking Expert Selected as Assistant Attaché

WASHINGTON – Director Carl J. Truscott of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced today that ATF will increase the assistance and information and intelligence sharing it offers Canadian law enforcement by opening a new office in Toronto.

With the arrival of Special Agent Regina Lombardo at the end of August, ATF will have three special agents and an inspector serving in Canada, at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, in Toronto and in Vancouver. Their mission is to enhance cooperation between U.S. and Canadian law enforcement, and to help neutralize the illicit movement of U.S.-sourced firearms, ammunition, explosives, alcohol and tobacco in order to deny their access to international traffickers, narcotics dealers and terrorists.

“ATF’s presence in Canada’s largest city will provide us with the opportunity to offer expertise, assistance and cooperation to our law enforcement partners in the critical Greater Toronto Area,” Truscott said. “Special Agent Lombardo, who has been recognized for her skill in international firearms trafficking investigations, will make an excellent addition to the ATF team in Canada.”

Lombardo, 42, won the U.S. Attorney General’s Award in 1999 and the ATF Agent of the Year Award in 2000 for her work on a case that sent three men and one woman to prison in the United States for trafficking firearms to the Provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army. Another six suspects face prosecution in Northern Ireland.

An ATF special agent since 1992, Lombardo currently is the group supervisor of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force in Broward County, Fla.

ATF’s Canada Country Office is one of four venues – the others are in Colombia, Mexico and with Interpol in Lyon, France – where the bureau maintains a permanent international presence. ATF also offers extensive firearms and explosives training, both within the United States and overseas, to international law enforcement agencies.

The activities of the Canada Country Office, opened in 1994, include providing tracing for thousands of U.S.-sourced crime guns recovered in Canada, and coordinating activities relating to firearms and explosives enforcement, international trafficking activities, enforcement strategies, operational practices and specialized firearms and explosives investigative training.

ATF, Ontario’s Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit (PWEU) and the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST) collaborate closely on firearms tracing, and have cosponsored workshops and training programs on weapons trafficking and smuggling and investigative techniques and methods. ATF also works with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada Border Services Agency and Canada Revenue Agency to reduce the flow of contraband cigarette trafficking.

ATF is one of several U.S. law enforcement agencies that participate in the Cross-Border Crime Forum, a partnership between the United States and Canada to target cross-border criminal activity and promote information and intelligence sharing.

More information on ATF and its programs is at www.atf.gov.

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