‘The Armoury’: Huge weapons and ammunition cache in Melbourne’s east uncovered in dramatic police raid
After an eight-month investigation, police have raided a secret weapons cache in Melbourne’s east housing submachine guns, stolen firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Police have seized 24 guns from a Melbourne weapons safe house known in organised crime circles as “The Armoury”.
Among the high-powered stockpile being guarded by a paid “sitter” were submachine guns, semiautomatics and pump-action shotguns.
Some were stolen, as far back as almost 30 years ago.
Ballistics checks will be carried out on all of the weapons to work out whether they have been used in previous shootings.
Detectives involved in a separate investigation in March this year became aware of the shadowy existence of “The Armoury” but there was no information on where it was.
The illicit firearms squad spent eight months piecing together intelligence on its location and made their move on Monday.
Detectives and members of the VIPER Taskforce raided a home in Glen Waverley where they uncovered the huge cache of unregistered weapons in a locked front room.
Eight of the guns had been stolen between 1997 and 2023.
There were the kind of high-powered pistols favoured by gangland figures, potentially deadly homemade guns created on 3D printers and a Thompson submachine gun made in 1921.
Also confiscated were three imitation pistols, more than 2000 rounds of ammunition, loaded and unloaded magazines, telescopic sights and other gun parts.
A machete in a sheath, a small amount of drugs, mobile phones and other electronic devices were taken away.
Two people from Glen Waverley – a 33-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman – were arrested at the scene.
The man now faces 60 charges, including possession of a trafficable quantity of unregistered firearms, acquisition of firearm, except from a licensed firearms dealer, a range of possession offences, gun storage breaches and having a firearm with no serial number.
He was remanded to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on December 16.
It will be alleged that the man lived at the property rent-free in return for minding guns for an organised crime syndicate.
Police said the woman was released pending further inquiries.
Detective Insp. Julie Macdonald of the illicit firearms squad said “The Armoury” was linked to organised crime and posed a major risk to public safety until it was uncovered.
“Nobody has a cache of 24 firearms stored in a locked room with a sitter for any good purpose,” Insp. Macdonald said.
She said forensic testing would now establish whether they were connected to past serious offending.
“We know that illicit firearms are a great enabler of serious and organised crime – they feature strongly in a range of offending such as drug manufacture and trafficking, homicides, armed robberies, extortions, aggravated burglaries, carjackings and family violence,” Insp. Macdonald said.
“This investigation commenced solely with the knowledge that an arsenal of weapons was being stored somewhere in the state’s southeast. Victoria Police will stop at nothing to track down and charge those we believe have the access to and propensity to use firearms.”
