Maroondah firearms: Three arrested in police visits to Ringwood and Croydon homes

Police are targeting people in the outer east who are banned from using firearms, and arresting those still packing heat.

Three men were arrested following house visits by police to banned firearms users in Maroondah. File picture.

Three men have been arrested in a series of house visits by Maroondah police targeting banned firearms users, with some found to be allegedly still in possession of the weapons.

Maroondah detective acting Sergeant Ryan Davis said officers conducted Operation Engaged on February 15 and 16, as part of an ongoing focus on community safety and to ensure compliance with firearms prohibition orders.

Officers are allowed to make unplanned visits to homes if it is in the public interest to prohibit an individual from acquiring, possessing, carrying or using a firearm or firearm related item.

Acting Sgt Davis said officers visited five homes in Ringwood and Croydon, connected to individuals who had firearms prohibition orders against them.

They made arrests at three of the homes, with the first arrest involving a man allegedly in possession of a prohibited weapon and a small amount of a drug of dependence.

A second person at another address was arrested after they were found to be allegedly in possession of marine flares without a valid reason, and a “dangerous” homemade weapon likened to a “spud gun”.

A third person was arrested during another home visit, when detectives located another man not subject to a prohibitions order who had allegedly committed an unrelated recent serious assault.

The 36-year-old man, of no fixed address, was charged with intentionally causing injury and remanded to face Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on March 16.

Acting Sgt Davis said the men involved in the other two arrests were likely to be charged on summons at a later date.

“Maroondah CIU will continue to conduct random and sporadic firearm prohibition order searches, with the view of holding previous offenders to account, and ensuring they don’t continue to possess firearms or related materials,” he said.