ILLEGAL firearms confiscated from criminals are regularly traced back to rural areas, with at least two having been taken from the Swan Hill region recently, Victoria Police has said.
Victoria Police Livestock Theft and Farm Crime head of practice Superintendent Craig Gillard told The Guardian almost two thirds of illegal firearms stolen in the state are taken from rural properties, with the Swan Hill district not immune to the problem.
“There’s not a rural/regional area that’s not susceptible to it. In the last 12 months, we’ve had about 1000 firearms stolen in Victoria and 65 per cent of them have been stolen from rural locations – so we see it happen across every area,” Supt Gillard said.
“I know of a couple of cases over the last couple of years where we’ve had firearms stolen from rural locations in and around the Swan Hill region, I’m fully aware of that.”
Supt Gillard was touching on comments made by Magistrate David Faram at a Swan Hill Magistrates’ Court hearing earlier this month.
Speaking to a Nyah man pleading guilty to the possession of an unregistered firearm without a license, Mr Faram said firearm owners needed to be very careful as guns stolen from them could end up being used by Melbourne gang members.
“One of the very significant things that happen in rural areas is that firearms get stolen, and it’s because people are hugely careless,” Mr Faram said.
“They end up being found in Melbourne where they are used in… gangland warfare.”
Supt Gillard agreed with the Magistrate, though said he hadn’t heard of any specific cases involving gangland warfare.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Friday’s Guardian (November 27).
