Bulk of weapons arsenal still missing: police

Most of the large arsenal of weapons missing from a Coromandel gun collector's safe have still not been found.

Police said yesterday no one offered to return the guns under an amnesty that would have allowed them to do so without being charged.

They believe the guns are still in the hands of criminals.

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Nicholls of Hamilton said it was not known if any of the weapons recovered during police raids on apparent terror training camps this week came from the collection.

He said police were negotiating for the return of one pistol, which would take the number of recovered weapons to six.

The gun collector told police 121 pistols, semi-automatic rifles and sub-machine guns were stolen.

He has since had his licence revoked and faced 20 firearms charges and one of making a false statement to police.

A 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol and a Beretta pistol were recovered when a man was arrested in an inner-Auckland suburb late last month.

Mr Nicholls said the amnesty expired at the end of last month but police would still consider not charging people if it meant getting the weapons off the streets.

- NZPA