More than 1,000 guns and parts seized in illicit weapon crackdown in Australia and New Zealand | Gun control

Authorities have seized more than 1,000 firearms and gun parts in anti-illegal arms proliferation operations in Australia and New Zealand.

According to the Australian Border Force, the week-long transnational operation led to the arrest of more than 180 people and the seizure of 281 custom-made firearms and parts, including those produced by 3D printers.

In New South Wales, police found several 3D printers along with glock-style pistols, magazines and 3D printed holsters, among other items.

An investigation by the Guardian in September tracked growing challenges to Australia’s gun control regime, including the trade in stolen firearms and the emergence of 3D printed firearms across the country.

NSW police said they arrested 45 people and seized 518 firearms and firearm parts as part of the operation. Several individuals were charged with offenses that are crimes in some states, such as producing a prohibited firearm without a license, importing prohibited goods, and possessing a digital blueprint for the manufacture of a firearm.

_{Sign up: AÜ Breaking News email}

“These 3D printed components may look colorful but they are not toys. When put together they become lethal weapons – completely illegal and extremely dangerous,” Det Supt John Watson, Commander of State Crime Command’s Drugs and Firearms Unit and National Chair of the Illegal Firearms Working Group, said in a statement. “Therefore, we target the entire supply chain, from printers to imported parts.

“Public safety is at the heart of our firearms licensing system. Shooters must be licensed, firearms must be registered, and compliance is non-negotiable.”

Data obtained by Guardian Australia as part of its research shows that more than 9,000 firearms have been reported stolen in the last five years, with police seizing homemade firearms in almost every state and territory by 2025.

Court records reveal 3D models produced in Australia and supported by an online community of designers and enthusiasts who support the “unrestricted right to keep and bear arms” are increasingly reliable and lethal.

At the time, police said the trend over the past three to four years had been “from a very crude, very low-powered, almost single-shot weapon” to higher-quality weapons.

Parts that cannot be reliably 3D printed are often ordered from online retailers abroad.

Australian Border Force commander Graeme Campbell said more than 8,000 illegal firearms, parts and accessories were detected at the border in the last financial year.

“Imported firearm parts can be manufactured together with other custom-made parts, resulting in dangerous and untraceable weapons leaking onto our streets,” Campbell said.

“Many of these are sold by online retailers, which can lead people to mistakenly believe that they are not inspected on import. Many of these websites place orders from abroad on behalf of the buyer without considering import regulations.”

Items including a crossbow and flamethrower were also seized in Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory; where police said they found a 3D printer along with a number of specially manufactured firearms in the remote town of Nhulunbuy.