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A big manhunt in Port Waikato last year appears to have sparked the investigation into military weapon imports that Hamilton police are dubbing Operation Daisy.
More than 500 high-powered guns have been seized from the premises of dealers, collectors and gangs nationwide in the past two days.
One of the six men arrested so far (police promise more arrests) appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Monday.
He was Hamilton internet gun dealer Dale Jenner, who was remanded on weapons charges until a pre-depositions hearing on January 30.
A woman told the Herald yesterday Jenner was not prepared to comment.
Police said another man was likely to appear soon on "unrelated" matters.
Firearms industry sources told the Waikato Times yesterday they had been questioned about their relationship with North Shore man Martin Bath. He is known for importing weapons for the purpose of supplying them to the film industry.
Mr Bath is understood to have been arrested but is yet to appear in court.
He confirmed he had been questioned for 10 hours by police on Wednesday. But he told the Times his issue with police came down to a misunderstanding on rules over the importation of guns.
Meanwhile, operation head Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Whitehead said last year's manhunt for Outcast gang member Kim Smith had led to several items being uncovered - restricted and unregistered.
"Events disclosed during that operation were part of a pool of intelligence that generated this inquiry."
Gang links with dealers and collectors seemed not to be related to intimidation tactics, but rather to personal friendships or associations.
He did not know why gang members would want such high-powered weaponry.
One of the country's most prominent gun dealers, Ray Carvell, said he believed the unprecedented move by police had worrying implications for everyone, but especially for legitimate gun collectors and dealers.
He had heard whispers about Russian imports but could not understand why police were cracking down throughout the country.
"I've got as good a network of contacts in this country as anyone and I'm mystified by it."
He was pleased police were dealing with illegally imported guns while trying to disable a black market trade, but criticised their record-keeping, saying duplication and inaccuracies in recording serial numbers were frequent.
He was staggered to hear Mr Bath was being implicated. "I'm shocked about that, to be honest. I thought it would be someone else but I won't say who."
He knew two collectors who were raided by police on Wednesday, "one of them basically at dawn".
"They had a relationship with Jenner and were on his mailing list."
Mr Carvell was highly critical of internet trading of guns, especially on Trade Me. He believed Trade Me should ban the practice.
He knew of cases where gun owners had unwittingly bought weapons on the internet that included illegal modifications.
He said that despite flaws in police record keeping, the local gun laws were among the world's best.
