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Police fear that a weapons collector's arsenal, including five submachine guns, 113 pistols and three military-style semi-automatic rifles, is circulating on the black market after two of the firearms were found in the hands of an arrested fugitive.
The collection, which includes Beretta pistols and Browning light machine guns, was part of a haul police allege was sold illegally by the Coromandel gun collector, who reported them stolen from his Hot Water Beach home on July 28.
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Nicholls of Waikato CIB said the discovery of weapons in the possession of a wanted man confirmed police fears that the firearms would find their way on to the black market. So far they had recovered just four weapons, leaving 117 unaccounted for.
Although an amnesty for handing in the guns expired on Sunday, Mr Nicholls said police were very keen to recover the weapons and would look at the amnesty on a case-by-case basis.
"Our priority is to get these restricted weapons off the street."
Gun collector John Noel Mabey, 43, claims his arsenal of 121 weapons was stolen on July 28. But about a month later police charged him with making a false burglary claim.
Then the case took a more sinister turn on Friday when two of the missing weapons, a Beretta and a Glock 9mm automatic pistol, were found in the possession of Richard Duthie when he was arrested by armed police in an Auckland apartment building.
Duthie was wanted by police for allegedly shooting at a constable during a car chase in Henderson, Auckland, after a routine stop.
Mabey appeared in the Thames District Court yesterday and faced one charge of making a false statement to police, and 12 charges of selling or supplying a pistol/restricted weapon to an unauthorised person, and seven charges of unlawfully carrying a restricted weapon or ammunition.
He was remanded on bail until November 2. Last night Mabey said he stood by his claims the guns were stolen. On the advice of lawyers he had been told not to say much more: "There's been enough said already that's untrue."
A source close to the family said: "John was on Waiheke Island when the guns were stolen."
That weekend, the source said, Mr Mabey had taken his eldest daughter, 13, to the island for a break. His younger daughter, 11, had stayed at the Hot Water Beach home with her grandmother, Mabey's mother.
The grandmother and daughter left the property about 8am on the day the weapons disappeared. They returned around 2pm to find one of the bedroom windows wide open.
The room had been ransacked and the weapons were taken. On display in the lounge were eight collector's item firearms, under lock and key.
The display items were not touched, nor was another "family heirloom" firearm stored in a shed outside.
Police initially visited the house on Saturday, July 28, and forensics arrived at the property the next day.
That was the last the family heard from police for more than four weeks.
When they returned they searched the property's cupboards, ceiling and walls, and had inquired who had built the house in 1990.
They took the remaining guns and ammunition, including those on display inside the lounge. The source acknowledged that Mabey had a friend in the Hell's Angels three years ago, but all ties were severed when he applied for custody of his two daughters.
