Melbourne’s northern suburbs have been a focus of attention throughout Victoria Police’s two-week raid on illegal weapons, dubbed Operation Unification.
Illegal firearms have been seized from a Mernda man and from a Lalor house in the past fortnight as part of the operation.
Following a drive-by shooting in Lalor two weeks ago, police raided a nearby house and seized eight guns.
Assistant Commissioner Steven Fontana said a major focus was to ensure licensed firearm owners and dealers took the necessary legal precautions to secure their weapons.
“If you’re a licensed firearm holder or dealer, you are obliged to make sure your firearms are stored securely in compliance with the legislative requirements to prevent them from being stolen and falling into the hands of criminals.
“Nearly every day our members are pulling up cars and finding loaded firearms in them,” Assistant Commissioner Fontana said.
His warning closely follows revelations of guns being stolen from Victorian MP Peter Crisp’s farm in late March and of a growing trade in firearms stolen from rural properties by criminal gangs.
Nine guns were stolen from a safe in a Melton house in January.
A routine intercept in Bell Street, Coburg, led to the confiscation of a sawn off shot-gun late last month. Fawkner highway patrol pulled over the car in relation to a traffic matter just before midnight when the female passenger took a satchel from the 27-year-old male driver and fled the scene.
Police gave chase and recovered the satchel, revealing the illegal weapon and a drug of dependence inside.
The two Mernda residents were charged with possessing a firearm without a licence and a drug of dependence.
An Avondale Heights man was also charged with various firearm offences after police found a handgun in his bedroom. He has been bailed to appear at Broadmeadows Magistrates Court on August 21.
Information about illegal firearm activity should be reported to Crime Stoppers.
