{"id":182526,"date":"2025-10-01T12:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/182526\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T12:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:37:10","slug":"nt-police-seize-more-than-240-guns-from-former-kakadu-park-ranger-who-captured-5-1m-crocodile-sweetheart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/182526\/","title":{"rendered":"NT Police seize more than 240 guns from former Kakadu park ranger who captured 5.1m crocodile, Sweetheart"},"content":{"rendered":"

An 81-year-old Kakadu National Park firearms dealer has had more than 240 guns seized by Northern Territory Police over multiple alleged breaches.<\/p>\n

Dave Lindner, a former park ranger who captured the notorious 5.13 metre crocodile, Sweetheart in 1979<\/a>, had his firearms dealership licence suspended and will face charges on two counts.<\/p>\n

How Sweetheart got stuffed<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the creation story of a five-metre taxidermy saltwater crocodile that was sent across Australia to promote a fledgling Northern Territory.<\/p>\n

In a statement, NT Police said that during the seizure “an old revolver, in poor condition, was found to be loaded with rounds stuck within the firearm”.<\/p>\n

“As officers attempted to manipulate the firearm it discharged in a safe direction,” the statement read.<\/p>\n

“No officers were injured and no damage to property occurred because of the discharge.<\/p>\n

“Additional loaded firearms were also located within the dealership.”<\/p>\n

Mr Lindner will be charged with failing to meet storage requirement and breaching the conditions of his firearm licence.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

More than 240 firearms were seized by police. (Supplied: Northern Territory Police Force)<\/p>\n

He’s been ordered to appear in Jabiru Local Court on October 28.<\/p>\n

As well as the hundreds of guns, police also seized various firearm parts.<\/p>\n

Acting Superintendent Alex Brennan said in the statement, “This was a complex seizure operation that highlights the importance of correct firearm storage”.<\/p>\n

“Officers within the Firearms Policy Unit are currently working to record each firearm and perform a full audit on everything seized,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Lindner has managed a buffalo farm in the centre of Kakadu National Park<\/a> since it was established in 1989.<\/p>\n

He gained notoriety after he and a group of rangers captured Sweetheart, which had been stalking fishers on the Finniss River.<\/p>\n

Sweetheart has, for years, been featured in a prominent display at the NT Museum and Art Gallery.<\/p>\n

\"Sweetheart's<\/p>\n

Sweetheart’s display at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. (Supplied: MAGNT)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 81-year-old Kakadu National Park firearms dealer has had more than 240 guns seized by Northern Territory Police…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[116962,116963,92664,116947,116957,116940,116959,116956,116953,75586,116942,116945,116950,116960,5862,116943,116948,116946,75585,116939,116958,116961,116955,116952,4634,116951,43,116954,61163,116944,44,8985,1098,116949,17189,116941,83015,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-182526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-dave-lindner","tag-david-lindner","tag-firearm","tag-firearm-breach","tag-firearm-licence","tag-firearm-parts","tag-firearm-retailer","tag-firearm-storage","tag-firearm-suspension","tag-firearms","tag-firearms-audit","tag-firearms-dealer","tag-firearms-parts","tag-firearms-rounds","tag-gun","tag-gun-audit","tag-gun-breach","tag-gun-dealer","tag-gun-licence","tag-gun-parts","tag-gun-retailer","tag-gun-rounds","tag-gun-storage","tag-gun-suspension","tag-guns","tag-guns-parts","tag-headlines","tag-jabiru-local-court","tag-kakadu","tag-kakadu-national-park","tag-news","tag-northern-territory-police","tag-nt","tag-nt-firearms-act-1997","tag-nt-police","tag-police-firearms-audit-and-enforcement-unit","tag-revolver","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}