Illegal Firearms Discovered at the Home of a Victorian Police Officer

A Victoria Police superintendent has been suspended with full pay for possessing illegal firearms.

On June 5 the superintendent's house was raided by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption watchdog, IBAC, in relation to another matter which led them to the discovery of an illegal handgun and rifle.

The same month, in a bid to target illicit firearm use, Victoria Police ramped up firearm legislation and issued prohibition orders, raiding the homes of dangerous offenders across the state, but without success. “The 40-odd houses that we’ve searched, we haven’t located any guns at,” admitted Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton.

3AW’s Neil Mitchell received the tip-off about the illegal firearms found in the policeman's home, “Neither [gun or rifle] was registered, and the superintendent didn’t have a gun license.”

Victoria Police confirmed with 3AW that a superintendent “from a corporate support area has been suspended with pay in relation to allegations of firearm and weapons offences on 5 June 2018”.

The discovery coincides with Victoria Police’s recommendations to the Firearms Act, which ironically included Firearm Prohibition Orders served to suspected criminals or groups that allegedly have access to illegal firearms.

In 2010, an audit of Victoria police’s firearms revealed that 200 firearms were missing, among which included shotguns, semi-automatics and revolvers.

This month, The Age reported that an audit of nearly 1000 firearms was conducted by the police’s Licensing and Regulation Division to reveal 81 guns missing.

The Herald Sun reported that, a spokeswoman for the anti-corruption commission (IBAC) confirmed an “active investigation” was underway.

For more, follow Mahmood on Twitter