HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — High Point police recently made the largest weapons bust in the city’s history.

Officers seized 31 guns and illegal drugs a week ago from a home in the 1500 block of Glenn Meade Drive near the intersection of Johnson Street and Skeet Club Road, police said.

The search also resulted in the arrest of Alexander Kuzmanoff, 26, on charges of possessing stolen goods and drug trafficking. Investigators had received several complaints about Kuzmanoff through Crime Stoppers of High Point.

High Point officers seized a record number of 450 guns in 2022, and the department hopes to top that number this year. Their plan is to go after guns used in crimes and from people who are not allowed to carry them in the first place.

“That has always been a mission for us as a police department to target those illegal guns,” Chief Travis Stroud said.

Stroud also talked about how illegal guns are getting in the wrong hands.

“What it means is their going into unlocked cars,” he said. “We see very few forced entries in vehicles. We have tons of ring cameras.”.

FOX8 asked how many guns have been stolen out of vehicles this year, but police could not provide an exact number Thursday afternoon. However, at the end of November, a spokesperson said 50 guns were taken in 45 vehicle break-ins.

FOX8 also learned that about 30% of the guns seized in the city are taken at vehicle stops.

“That’s a lot of guns,” Stroud said. “We’re only touching the tip of the iceberg here. We’re going to continue to stop cars inside the city. It might be a minor vehicle violation. You still have to have reasonable probable cause to make the stop, but we need officers who are going to take the investigation further if that’s where it’s headed.”

Even while down 40 officers, High Point police can make key arrests with the help of the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network.

Officers with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said shell casings work like a fingerprint. They can be analyzed and matched, linking one shooting to another and helping investigators pinpoint which guns are used and who is firing them.

There are currently 11 NIBIN systems located throughout the state.

During the past three years, more than 21,000 acquisitions of shell casings put into the system have been made by law enforcement agencies in Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point. This had resulted in more than 10,000 leads, including more than 4,000 in 2022.