NSW police have seized gun parts that were illegally imported to assemble the same type of military assault rifle used in the Port Arthur massacre.
Specialist officers raided a property at South Arm on the NSW mid north coast on Thursday and found gun parts used to assemble AR-15 semi-automatic rifles and 20,000 rounds of ammunition.
They also seized commercially available equipment to manufacture more of the same ammunition.
Police also raided a premises at Kingsgrove, in southern Sydney, and arrested a 54-year-old man who owns the South Arm property and is known to police.
He has been charged with aggravated possession of prohibited firearms and is to face Sutherland local court on Friday.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson said the gun parts were illegally imported from the US via the post and were enough to assemble 20 of the assault rifles.
Mr Hudson said the parts had the potential to be converted into fully automatic weapons.
“We’ve seen historically what firearms similar to this can do, going back to Port Arthur and other incidents internationally,” he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
“It is of significant concern to us that this type of firearm was imported into Australia.”
Martin Bryant killed 35 people during a rampage at Port Arthur in Tasmania in 1996.
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