{"id":115125,"date":"2025-11-03T05:46:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T05:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/115125\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T05:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T05:46:08","slug":"illegal-hunting-operation-leads-to-seizure-of-haul-of-guns-6-arrests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/115125\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal hunting operation leads to seizure of haul of guns, 6 arrests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">Thirty-one firearms have been seized and six firearms licence holders suspended following an investigation into illegal hunting in North Canterbury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">A network of firearms licence holders allegedly gave firearms to unlicensed hunters and then attempted to cover their tracks with further offending, police said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The operation, by The National Organised Crime Group (NCOG) supported by the Firearms Safety Authority, was one of several investigations conducted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2025\/10\/29\/illegal-firearms-crackdown-43-arrested-96-guns-seized\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a coordinated crackdown by New Zealand and Australian police last month.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The investigation began after shots were fired near a house in rural Cheviot in April, waking the occupants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">NOCG Detective Inspector Albie Alexander said two men without firearms licences pleaded guilty to charges including unlawful possession of firearms and discharging a firearm near a dwelling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;Of the six firearms located in their possession, four were registered to other people. Thanks to the Firearms Registry we were able to trace the licence holders who allegedly diverted their firearms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">He said the investigation revealed alleged attempts to subsequently conceal offending by providing misleading information about the true ownership of the firearms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-greyDarkFaded\">The morning&#8217;s headlines in 90 seconds, including a stabbing attack in the UK is not a terror incident, Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua speaks for the first time since her stand down, and the King takes one more thing from his disgraced brother (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Six people, four men and two women, now face charges including attempting to defeat the course of justice, failing to register firearms, supplying firearms to unlicensed people, and knowingly giving false information to police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Firearms Safety Authority executive director Angela Brazier said the Firearms Registry proved invaluable by linking the illegal hunting with licence holders who allegedly diverted their firearms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;The majority of licence holders have no trouble complying with their registry obligations and know the rules about keeping firearms out of the hands of unlicensed people who may go on to commit offences.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Two men, aged 22 and 73, and two women, aged 52 and 73, all of Kaik\u014dura, are due to reappear at the Kaik\u014dura District Court on December 12. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">A 38-year-old Hurunui man will reappear in the Christchurch District Court on November 13, and a 47-year-old Hurunui man is scheduled to appear on November 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thirty-one firearms have been seized and six firearms licence holders suspended following an investigation into illegal hunting in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[158,67,111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-115125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-christchurch-canterbury","9":"tag-crime-and-justice","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}