A SYDNEY man has been charged with passing on seven stolen rocket launchers, five of which allegedly went to a person on terror charges. A joint operation by Australian Federal Police, New South Wales Police and ASIO led officers today to a house in Leumeah, in Sydney's southwest, where the 28-year-old man was arrested. AFP Assistant Commissioner Frank Prendergast, who is the AFP's counter terrorism national manager, said the 28-year-old man supplied two rocket launchers to one man, and five of the weapons to another man. "The person who received five is facing terrorism charges on another matter,'' Prendergast said. "It is a matter of great importance to us to recover the six outstanding weapons.''
The charged man is believed to be one link in a "chain of supply'', Asst Commissioner Kaldas said. He was due to face Sydney's Central Local Court today.
| He also apparently doesn't have a name. Wonder why the News didn't disclose it? |
The man was charged with two counts of dishonestly receiving stolen property, seven counts of unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon, and seven counts of unauthorised supply of a prohibited weapon. He has also been charged with possession of ammunition.
NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas said today's arrest was not the end of the investigation. "I want to assure the public that we have significant resources working on finding these weapons," he said. "It is important that if anyone in the community has any information regarding prohibited or illegally obtained weapons, they should contact police immediately."
Army chief Lieutenant General Peter Leahy said earlier that the Defence Department was investigating claims that former soldiers may have sold anti-tank rockets on the black market to criminals or even terrorists. Lt Gen Leahy said the department was auditing all such weapons in its armories around the country. "We've done a fair bit of work to do a stocktake of our own and the defence force announced before Christmas that we are imposing extra restrictions on their use to make sure they are used only for operational purposes," he said.
"I think that we've taken quite stringent steps to make sure that we have control over the weapons in our control and I think beyond that we should listen to what the Civil and other authorities are doing to investigate."