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A Coromandel man who illegally sold off his gun collection has been jailed for 21 months.
In Hamilton District Court, Judge Phillip Connell said the actions of John Mabey had long reaching implications for public safety and posed a grave risk to the community, One News reported.
Mabey was jailed after he sold his gun collection, including military-style weapons, to criminals.
Police have found some of the firearms in the hands of dangerous offenders.
The judge said the 44-year-old unemployed sickness beneficiary was motivated simply by greed.
Mabey had collected 121 guns but police said when the interest on a half million dollar loan ballooned out of control he secretly began flogging off his guns to the criminal underworld.
To account for their disappearance, he told the police he had been burgled in August last year.
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Nicholls had described Mabey's actions as abhorrent and said criminals had already been caught firing the weapons on the streets.
- NZPA
