Police fear stun guns, sprays on streets

By BRIDGET CARTER

Police are concerned that stun guns and pepper sprays are circulating on the streets after two men were arrested this week for selling the illegal weapons on the black market.

The arrests come several days after an Auckland security guard was allegedly attacked with pepper spray in Ponsonby by one of the accused and taken to hospital.

Two men from Grey Lynn, aged 19 and 20, appeared in the Auckland District Court on Wednesday facing charges, including importing restricted weapons, selling restricted weapons and conspiring to import restricted weapons.

The defendants made their court appearance several hours after police searched an Auckland property and found documents suggesting at least a dozen stun guns and pepper sprays were being illegally imported and sold.

Police were alerted to the circulation of the weapons after the attack on the security guard, which happened around 11pm on Wednesday, April 14, in the Ponsonby Rd area.

The head of the security firm where the victim worked said his staff member had had vision problems for two days and was admitted to hospital, but he was now back at work.

He did not want his company to be named, fearing retaliation, but he said it was a worry that the weapons were on the street.

The man charged in connection with the Ponsonby attack is one of the two men accused of selling the weapons.

He appeared in court last week charged with unlawful possession of a restricted weapon and assault with intent to cause injury and faces three years in prison.

Detective Sergeant Glenn Baldwin of Avondale said the case was unusual in that police did not often come across stun guns and pepper spray being used on the street.

Taser stun guns and pepper sprays were readily available on the internet, but they were illegal to import or buy in New Zealand.

One of the worries was that the weapons, which were used by police forces around the world to disable people, caused large levels of discomfort and were dangerous.

New Zealand Customs Service acting investigations manager Terry Brown said the service had never intercepted a large number of the weapons before, but just about anything was available on the internet.

He said there were a number of ways people could bring them into the country.

There have been cases in America where people have been injured after being zapped with a Taser stun gun.

In one case, a man took legal action after a police officer shocked him with a Taser stun gun and he was left with severe pain, welts, burns, bruises and permanent scars.

And four years ago, a 66-year-old schizophrenic Northland man, Dr Ian Horsfield, died of a heart attack after being sprayed in Kerikeri.

Police were urging anyone with pepper spray or stun guns to surrender them to police or call 09 302-6400.

Stun gun

* The Taser looks like a handgun, but incapacitates the victim with two needle-tipped darts fired from up to 6m away that trail wires back to the gun.

* The power of the shock - up to 50,000 volts - lasts for up to five seconds and floors the victim.

* In some American states it is legal for the public to carry Taser guns.