Hundreds of guns, including deadly SKS assault rifle, seized during search of Adelaide Hills property
Hundreds of guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and explosives have been seized from an Adelaide Hills property. Detectives took three days to locate all the weapons including assault rifles “with no other purpose than killing people”.
Firearms designed with no other purpose than to kill another person have been discovered among a massive cache of guns, ammunition and explosives in the Adelaide Hills.
An assault rifle similar to one used in a mass shooting in Texas on the weekend, a high powered handgun, military grade ammunition and explosives were among the arsenal, which took three days to dismantle.
The haul, combined with two mass shootings in the United States, has prompted the State Government to consider strengthening firearm laws.
Police Minister Corey Wingard said the review, which began earlier in the year, would focus on keeping firearms “out of the hands of idiots”.
On Friday afternoon, officers from the Serious Firearms Branch and Eastern Adelaide detectives raided a rural property north of Mt Barker as part of an ongoing investigation.
Over the next three days police located 164 illegal firearms in addition to knives, crossbows, explosives and hundreds of kilos of ammunition.
A 53-year-old man at the premises was also a registered firearm owner for an additional 38 guns, which were also seized. He was arrested and charged with firearms offences.
The house remains an active crime scene as officers examine hidden rooms where some of the firearms were located.
The weapons ranged from bolt action rifles to high power handguns and an aged machine gun.
Of most concern for the detectives was an SKS assault rifle, similar to one used in a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas on the weekend which killed 20 people.
“These weapons are of a concern and shouldn’t be in the community,” officer in charge of firearms branch Superintendent Stephen Howard said.
“Assault rifles are the most strictly controlled weapons in South Australia and you need to have a very good reason to have them.
“This person did not have that reason or the licences for those firearms.
“The SKS is a firearm which is made for war. It is purely designed for killing people.
“This one has a bayonet which folds under the barrel and is used for hand to hand combat.
“It has no other purpose than for killing people. The same can be said for the machine gun, while it may look like a relic it wouldn’t take much to bring it back to be able to fire.”
Australian Defence Personnel are assisting in the investigation after military grade ammunition was found in the property.
They also disposed of “flash bang” explosive devices found among the cache.
Supt Howard said there was no indication that there were links to terrorism or organised crime.
It is believed none of the guns have been fired recently.
Investigations are continuing into the origins of the illegal weapons.
The man did not apply for bail in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon.