Rambo is a weird series of movies. The first film, First Blood, can be seen as a completely separate movie from the four sequels that followed. The film is more of a drama about an elite special ops soldier dealing with PTSD and a brutal small-town police force. The movie deals with themes of Vietnam veterans returning to society and dealing with a country they felt left them behind.
It’s legitimately a great film that was followed by four action-packed sequels that seemingly miss the point of the first film. However, this article isn’t an analysis of the films but rather a fascinating heist that occurred during the film. I was cruising the trivia of the film on IMBD (nerd alert) and read a brief snipper mentioning a truck carrying 50 firearms was stolen.
After that, I dived into the story and was frustrated by how hard it was to find information on the heist of Rambo’s firearms. The trivia portion isn’t entirely correct, but a heist did occur, and from what I can find, not all of the guns were recovered.
The Great Rambo Robbery
They filmed Rambo in Canada, and due to the country’s laws, they were required to import the firearms used in the movie from the United States. If you’ve seen the film, you know the movie is full of M16s, shotguns, revolvers, and M60 machine guns. The firearms were stored in a locked armory truck.
According to the New York Times, the truck’s side doors were padlocked, and the rear door had a combination lock. Once we climbed into the truck, the live fire weapons were stored in a locked wooden case, while replica guns were not additionally secured.
Members of the Canadian Army supposedly guarded the set and storage location of the firearms. These soldiers were also extras in the film. According to the unit public relations worker, four armed guards were always there to protect the firearms.
In January 1982, the heist was on. The next morning, the theft was reported. Officially, 47 guns were stolen. However, the New York Times reported that someone close to the production claimed nearly 100 guns were swiped. With 47 being the official number, the attached price tag was 50,000 dollars.
To top it all off, there were no signs of forced entry. The guns were there, and then they weren’t.
The Guns
The stolen guns include 14 M16s, three Remington shotguns, two S&W 44 Magnums, 11 Colt AR-15s, and two M-60 Machine Guns. Later articles also mention two ‘Belgian’ weapons. I looked through Rambo’s IMFDB and didn’t see any Belgian designs. I’d expect the FAL. There was an HK93A2; maybe the newspaper confused the weapon with a Belgian-produced gun. Who knows?
The newspapers reported that they were blank-firing guns but would easily convert to standard firearms. In reality, these are real guns from the start, but they have an internal plug to allow them to cycle blanks. Removing the plug would make it safe to fire actual rounds again.
That’s a massive amount of guns stolen, but the heist wasn’t pulled off without a hitch. Three men were located connected to the theft. The men are Richard Gallant, Douglas Burgess, and John Krahn, and reports label them members of the Candian militia.
When I hear militia, I think of a non-military civilian group. Militia groups in the United States tend to be a bit spicy, and I had no idea Canadian militia groups existed in Canada. I researched extensively to find details of a Canadian militia but came up short-handed.
Little did I know that the Canadian militia referred to the reserve troops of the Canadian Military. All three men were members of the British Columbia Regiment. The court released Krahn without bail, charged Burgess with a $1,000 bail bond, and held Gallant in custody. Perhaps Gallant was the mastermind?
The court recovered 15 of the 47 weapons, including both M60 machine guns. What happened to the other 32 guns? I’m not sure. I can’t find any more information on the case.
My Theory
Don’t call me a conspiracy theorist, but it is a funny coincidence that members of the Canadian Military guarded the set, and the theft occurred while four armed guards were near. Is it possible for the three members of the B.C. Regiment to have been the armed guards? Or perhaps had been or knew of the set’s security? Could it have been an inside job?
Honestly, I wish I had more information. There are so many unanswered questions. I tried to find court records using a public information portal, looked over social media, and searched newspaper archives, but I ended up empty-handed. It’s a fascinating little tid bit and a great story, but the ending leaves too many unanswered questions.
