Authorities have seized more than 1,000 firearms and gun parts in a crackdown on the spread of illicit weapons in Australia and New Zealand.
The week-long transnational operation led to more than 180 arrests, according to Australian Border Force, and the seizure of 281 privately manufactured firearms and parts, including those made by 3D printers.
In New South Wales, police located multiple 3D printers alongside Glock-style pistols, magazines and 3D-printed holsters, among other items.
A Guardian investigation in September tracked the growing challenges posed to Australia’s gun control regime, including the trade of stolen firearms and the emergence of 3D-printed firearms across the country.
NSW police said they arrested 45 people and seized 518 firearms and firearm parts as part of the operation. Multiple individuals were charged with offences including the manufacture of prohibited firearms without a licence, importing prohibited goods and possessing a digital blueprint for manufacture of firearms – a crime in some states.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
“These 3D printed components may look colourful, but they are not toys. Once assembled, they become lethal weapons – entirely illicit and extremely dangerous,” the commander of the state crime command’s drug and firearms squad and national chair of the Illicit Firearms Working Group, Det Supt John Watson, said in a statement. “That’s why we’re targeting the full supply chain, from printers to imported parts.
“Public safety sits at the core of our firearms licensing system. Shooters must be licensed, firearms must be registered, and compliance is non-negotiable.”
Data obtained by Guardian Australia as part of its investigation shows that over the past five years more than 9,000 firearms have been reported stolen, and that in 2025, police made seizures of homemade firearms in almost every state and territory.
Court records reveal that the 3D models being manufactured in Australia, fuelled by an online community of designers and enthusiasts that promote an “unlimited right to keep and bear arms”, are increasingly reliable and deadly.
Over the past three to four years the trend has been from “very novice, very low-powered, almost a one-shot weapon” to higher-quality weapons, police said at the time.
Parts that cannot be reliably 3D-printed are often ordered from online retailers overseas.
The Australian Border Force commander Graeme Campbell said more than 8,000 illegal firearms, parts and accessories had been detected at the border in the last financial year.
“Imported firearm parts can be constructed with other privately manufactured parts, creating dangerous and untraceable weapons filtering onto our streets,” Campbell said.
“Many of these are items are being sold by online retailers, which may lead people to wrongly believe they are not controlled on import. Many of these websites simply place orders from overseas on the buyer’s behalf without any considerations for import regulations.”
Seizures of items including a crossbow and flame-thrower were also made in Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, where police said they found several privately manufactured firearms, as well as a 3D printer in the remote town of Nhulunbuy.
