Why did federal agents seize — and then return — $5 million worth of switchblades from a Colorado man?

On Oct. 1, 2020, federal agents raided the home of an Adams County man.

They threw flash grenades, handcuffed the homeowner, used a Taser on his dog, confiscated hard drives — and seized $5 million worth of switchblade knives from locked cabinets in the man’s spacious garage, according to court documents.

Two-and-a-half years later, government representatives returned the switchblades with the message that they did not intend to pursue the matter further.

To this day, Johan Lumsden says he has no idea why his home was raided.

Lumsden on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against the United States, alleging the government ruined his online switchblade business by taking his inventory, damaged his property and reputation, injured his dog, and caused him pain, suffering and severe emotional distress.

The whole ordeal remains a mystery more than four years later, Lumsden’s attorney, Paul Gordon, said in an interview Thursday.

Lumsden thinks the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted the raid, Gordon said. But customs officials might have been there as well. Perhaps the Internal Revenue Service.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado declined to comment on Thursday.

The Adams County resident was never indicted or charged with a crime, he says in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver. A grand jury did subpoena his tax returns, Gordon said. But nothing ever came of it.

“Almost as mysteriously as they showed up, they said, ‘We have all your inventory; where do you want to pick it up?’ ” Gordon said.

Lumsden and his attorney only have theories about what could have happened: Could there have been a customs issue importing the switchblades? Could the government have thought he was cheating on his taxes? Could a neighbor or competitor swatted him?

“We’ve gotten to the point where the only way to figure out what happened was to file a lawsuit and get discovery,” Gordon said.

Colorado lawmakers in 2017 legalized the possession of switchblades, and it’s legal in the state to openly carry these types of knives if the blades are shorter than three-and-a-half inches.

Some municipalities — such as Denver, Aurora, Boulder and Lakewood — have laws against carrying switchblades.