September 3rd, 2023Firearm stash unearthed near Bendigo

Ten firearms buried 20 years ago have been unearthed on a vacant residential property in Huntly, just out of Bendigo in recent days.

Officers from the Central Victorian Firearms Office received an anonymous tip-off as part of the National Firearms Amnesty that the items were under a concrete slab on the recently sold Hehir Road property.

Local police, with assistance from Search and Rescue officers used a mini excavator to jack hammer the firearms out on Friday 22, about 11.15am.

The firearms, all in excellent condition, were in poly pipe and wrapped in garbage bags full of motor oil.

They included:

A revolver

A semi auto .22 rifle cut down to a handgun

Three Ruger 10/22 semi auto rifles

A Fieldman semi auto .22 rifle

Four Ruger Mini-14 .223 semi-automatic centrefire rifles (assault rifles).

Bendigo Central Victorian Firearms Office Leading Senior Constable Mark Wilkinson reminded anyone out there that they can hand any firearm to police with complete anonymity and will not be prosecuted under the National Firearms Amnesty.

“The firearms seized on Friday (September 22) are of a category that the average firearm licence holder cannot legally possess and they will all be destroyed at the Forensic Science Laboratory in the coming weeks.”