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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Rachel Sharp

Julia Fox’s brother arrested in NYC apartment raid as police find ghost guns, drugs and ‘explosive materials’

Getty Images

Julia Fox’s brother has been arrested in a New York City apartment raid where police found a trove of ghost guns, drugs and materials that could be used to make explosives.

Christopher Fox, the 30-year-old brother of the Hollywood actor and model, was taken into custody on Wednesday morning when the NYPD swooped on his apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

The NYPD confirmed to The Independent that the department’s Major Case Field Intelligence Team executed a search warrant at the property on East 84th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues as part of what it described as a “specialised, long-term investigation” into ghost guns and narcotics.

During the search, the NYPD’s Ghost Gun Team seized several ghost gun parts as well as equipment for pressing narcotics pills.

Materials typically used as components in explosives – including pressure cookers and various chemicals – were also found in the property as well as 3D printers, which are used to manufacture illegal guns.

A trove of thousands of dollars worth of high-end wine bottles were also discovered at the home, reported The New York Post.

The raid reportedly came after Mr Fox’s neighbours tipped police off about “suspicious” deliveries to the 30-year-old’s apartment.

Due to the nature of the materials found, officers decked out in Hazmat suits were called in to investigate the items.

Once the chemicals were deemed to be non-hazardous, the items were seized.

Mr Fox was arrested and slapped with a string of weapons charges including criminal possession of a controlled substance, manufacture of a machine gun, manufacture of a rapid fire mod device, MFG dangerous instrument, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal use of drug paraphernalia and several other weapons and violation charges.

Fox’s father was also at the apartment at the time and was taken into custody.

Julia Fox at the 2022 CFDA Awards in New York in November (Getty Images)

He has not been charged over the incident.

The NYPD said that there is no evidence of any ties to terrorism with the explosive materials are also regularly used to manufacture narcotics.

Instead, they found evidence of the manufacture of ghost guns – firearms which are made at home and don’t have serial numbers, making them difficult for law enforcement to track.

“The NYPD will continue to fight relentlessly against illegal guns – against both the steady proliferation of traditionally-manufactured firearms and the increasingly prevalent numbers of illegal, untraceable but fully functioning weapons known as ghost guns,” the NYPD said in a statement.

Mr Fox, who has no prior criminal record, will be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court.

His shock arrest comes after Fox has spoken out in the past about her brother’s “mad scientist” persona.

“He’s like a mad scientist recluse,” she said in an interview. “He builds 3D printers for fun.”

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