Tasmania Police is cracking down on those involved with illegal firearms as part of Operation Unification – Get Illegal Guns Off Our Streets which starts on June 16.

The two-week operation is part of an Australia-wide campaign and aims to get stolen and illegally imported, manufactured and used firearms out of circulation.

Information from the public will be a key to the operation’s success. Last year Operation Unification saw calls to Crime Stoppers increase from an average of two a week to 12 a week, or 500%.

“We’ve had good success in recent years in locating and destroying illegal firearms,” said Tasmania Police Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Joel.

“There are people in Tasmania involved with illegal firearms and we’re asking for information from the community to help us identify and arrest them.

“Information about who has illegal firearms, how they are getting them, where they are being stored and what they are being used for could assist our ongoing investigations.”

In the financial year to April, there have been 54 incidents of firearm theft, with 192 firearms stolen. 23 have been recovered.

Each year Tasmania Police destroys about 1400 firearms, including handguns, rifles, shot guns and semi-automatic weapons. Destroying them helps prevent their use in further criminal activity.

There is a permanent amnesty for handing in firearms. Under the Firearms Act 1996, any firearm can be handed into a police station and no further action will be taken in relation to possession offences.

Special amnesty days will be held throughout Operation Unification at Launceston Police Station on June 19 and Sorell Police Station on June 21. The mobile police station bus will be used in the North-West of the state.

The mobile station toured the State in the last 12 months and more than 450 guns were handed in.

As a result of last year’s Operation Unification, 33 illegal firearms were seized and 17 people were charged with firearms offences.

To minimise the risk of legal firearms making their way into the illegal market Tasmania Police regularly makes inspections of the storage facilities of licence holders.

There are approximately 37,000 people in Tasmania licenced to possess firearms and 132,000 firearms registered.

Detective Senior Sgt Joel added:

“Nearly all illegally possessed firearms were once legal because they were either stolen or never registered.

“The amnesties support our criminal investigations, helping to get unwanted and illegally acquired firearms out of circulation.

“We conduct about 3000 premises checks on firearm licence holders each year to ensure they are storing their firearms correctly in a secure weapons safe.

“Firearms stored incorrectly are not only a safety risk to those in the house, they are at risk of ending up in criminal hands and being sold on or used in robberies and other violent crimes.”

Anyone who has information about those involved with illegal firearms is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Operation Unification ends on June 29.

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Amnesty Days will be held throughout Operation Unification as follows: