The alarming gun crime that’s on the rise in Victoria

Police are cracking down on black market sale of guns after an alarming trend emerged, with seven Victorian areas identified as hot spots.

Nabil Maghnie was among nine people fatally shot in 2020. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Criminals banned from carrying guns are being busted arming themselves at a rate of 14 a week.

As anti-gangs police run a fresh black market weapons crackdown, the Herald Sun can reveal the extraordinary level of breaches of a law specifically aimed at providing a heavy deterrent to convicted offenders.

The charge of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm was laid 3744 times in the past five years, Victoria Police figures show.

Real and imitation guns seized from Frankston in November. Picture: Supplied

Seven municipalities made up one-third of the statewide total of 708 in the last financial year.

They are Casey (43), Melton (42), Hume (41), Geelong (40), Greater Dandenong (36), Brimbank (34) and Latrobe (30).

The Herald Sun can also reveal:

NINE people were shot dead and 41 wounded in 2020;

GUNS were used in 18 carjackings in Victoria last financial year;

FIREARMS were used in 36 home invasions in that period;

POLICE statewide seized more than 770 illegal firearms last year; and

THE number of banned people illegally carrying guns remains high in the major regional centres of Geelong and Ballarat.

The force has moved to restructure its illicit firearms unit to fight the rise in gun crime.

“Last year in Victoria we seized more firearms than we did in 2019, which shows that a global pandemic had no impact on the prevalence of firearms in this state,” acting Deputy Commissioner Robert Hill said.

“I am confident the IFU will enhance Victoria Police’s capability not only to respond to illicit firearms related crime, but to proactively target those responsible.”

Detective Insp. Michael Daly will head up the IFU as police move to control outlaw trading of guns and their accompanying use in homicides, armed robberies, the drug trade and other high-level offending.

A pistol seized by illicit firearms unit officers in November. Supplied

The unit will zero in on bikies, Middle-Eastern organised crime figures and other groups who traffic weapons.

Designated detectives and analysts will specialise in firearms investigation and intelligence-gathering.

Insp. Daly said the IFU would work closely with forensic experts and other law enforcement agencies to tackle the market.

Victoria Police has intensified its fight against the weapons scourge in recent years.

The force has accelerated issuing of firearms prohibition orders, handing out almost 400 last year.

More than 600 orders have been imposed since they were introduced two and-a-half years ago.

The orders ban individuals from buying, possessing or using a firearm or accessories under threat of up to 10 years in jail.

Black market guns continue to attract big money for illegal dealers, state anti-gangs squad head detective Supt. Peter Brigham said.

He said a machine-gun like an AK-47 could be expected to attract as much as $25,000 and up to $15,000 for a high-powered handgun.

The rate of theft remains high as drug dealers move to protect themselves and other criminals like bikies use them for intimidation.

Supt Brigham said some of 300 weapons “diverted” by a corrupt interstate firearms dealer ended up in Victoria.

A portion of the guns from a huge theft in West Australia also wound up on the eastern seaboard, including Victoria.

Many others were part of an untracked “grey market” of weapons not handed in through various amnesties run in recent decades.

A 103-year-old Colt revolver was recently found with a 24-year-old criminal from St Albans, in Melbourne’s northwest, Supt Brigham said.

RAID FINDS MASSIVE GUN CACHE

An arsenal seized in a recent raid at Frankston gives an insight into why police are making a fresh attack on the firearms black market.

Victoria Police’s restructured illicit firearms unit has been working quietly to establish itself in recent months, apparently with considerable success.

The IFU has been involved in investigations that led to 80 firearms being seized across the state. Of those, 36 weapons were uncovered in the Frankston raid in November.

A man now faces weapons trafficking charges over the raid, in which high-powered firearms, imitation firearms, gel blasters and a Taser were found.

He will appear in court in July on charges of possessing a trafficable quantity of unregistered firearms, acquisition of a trafficable quantity of firearms and other weapons and drug charges.

The find came at a time when — despite the pandemic — firearms seizures were higher than in 2019.

Nine people, including crime figure Nabil Maghnie and young tradesman Adrian Pacione, were shot dead in 2020 and another 41 were wounded.

The head of the IFU, Detective Inspector Mick Daly, said police investigating homicides and other crimes involving guns were focused on their own inquiries rather than the broader issue of the weapons involved.

Insp. Daly said the unit’s job would be to take the information gathered by those investigations and work out where the firearms came from, whether they were used in other offences and to identify broader trends such as gun trafficking.

Gel blasters of the kind seized at Frankston are banned in all states except Queensland. They are a significant concern for police.

Gangs investigators say the guns are often sold as toys but are no such thing and appear the same as the genuine article.

They fire small gel balls and some models are replicas of real firearms, alarming law enforcement bodies.

Victoria Police anti-gangs division head, Detective Supt Peter Brigham, said police were finding increasing numbers of gel guns. “They have an uncanny likeness to the real thing,” he said.