🔗 Share this article

Law enforcement confiscated over 1,000 weapons and gun parts in a crackdown targeting the spread of illegal firearms in the country and its neighbor.

International Operation Results in Apprehensions and Seizures

The week-long cross-border initiative culminated in more than 180 arrests, based on statements from immigration authorities, and the seizure of 281 homemade guns and components, including products produced using 3D printers.

Local Finds and Arrests

Across the state of NSW, law enforcement located multiple additive manufacturing devices together with pistols of a certain design, ammunition clips and fabricated carrying cases, in addition to various pieces.

Local police reported they detained 45 individuals and took possession of 518 firearms and weapon pieces in the course of the initiative. Numerous suspects were accused of crimes among them the production of illegal guns without a licence, importing banned items and possessing a electronic design for production of firearms – a crime in various jurisdictions.

“Those additively manufactured parts might appear colourful, but they are far from playthings. After construction, they are transformed into lethal weapons – completely illegal and extremely dangerous,” a senior police official commented in a release. “That’s why we’re aiming at the entire network, from fabrication tools to imported parts.

“Community security is the foundation of our firearms licensing system. Gun owners need to be authorized, guns have to be registered, and compliance is absolute.”

Increasing Phenomenon of Homemade Firearms

Information gathered as part of an probe shows that over the past five years over 9,000 firearms have been taken illegally, and that this year, law enforcement conducted confiscations of privately manufactured weapons in nearly all state and territory.

Legal documents indicate that the digital designs now created domestically, driven by an internet group of developers and enthusiasts that advocate for an “absolute freedom to possess firearms”, are increasingly reliable and deadly.

Over the past few years the trend has been from “very novice, very low-powered, nearly disposable” to higher-quality weapons, authorities reported earlier.

Immigration Discoveries and Online Purchases

Parts that cannot be reliably additively manufactured are frequently acquired from digital stores abroad.

A senior customs agent said that more than 8,000 illicit weapons, components and add-ons had been detected at the customs checkpoint in the most recent accounting period.

“Overseas gun components can be constructed with additional privately manufactured parts, forming dangerous and unregistered guns making their way to our streets,” the official stated.

“Numerous of these products are offered by e-commerce sites, which might cause users to incorrectly assume they are not controlled on import. Numerous of these platforms simply place orders from abroad for the customer with no regard for border rules.”

Other Recoveries Across Several Territories

Confiscations of objects including a crossbow and fire projector were further executed in the state of Victoria, the western territory, Tasmania and the the central territory, where law enforcement reported they discovered a number of homemade guns, as well as a 3D printer in the isolated community of a specific location.