The gun-running syndicate that shocked Australian law enforcement

It was one of the biggest gun-smuggling operations in Australian history. And it was all run out of a suburban Sydney post office.

A syndicate working out of a suburban Sydney post office smuggled more than 130 high-powered, highly restricted semi-automatic handguns into Australia through the mail, at a time when the city was in the grip of an outbreak of drive-by shootings.

At the time of their arrest in 2012, the syndicate had plans to bring in hundreds more Glock pistols into Australia.

Only a fraction of the handguns they smuggled in have ever been found. More than 100 are still on the streets, in the hands of criminals.

“It’s a well sought-after gun, a Glock pistol. It’s not dissimilar to a sports motor vehicle. It’s something that everyone would like to possess. The Glock pistol is like a Ferrari of handguns.”

— Detective Chief Insp. Grant Taylor, NSW Police Firearms Squad, 2009-2012.

For five years, the ringleader of the syndicate has dragged his case through the courts. Only now can the full details be revealed of a scheme that firearms experts have told Four Corners is a “wake-up call” for Australian authorities.

January 2012: A shot in the night puts detectives on the trail

“How can a large number of Glock semi-automatic pistols … end up in Australia, and all of a sudden end up in the Western Suburbs of Sydney? That’s the wake-up call.”

— Gary Fleetwood, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

The operation only came to light after a reckless gunshot by a low-level criminal on the streets of Sydney, that put investigators on a trail that led to gun dealers in Germany, Switzerland, and the United States — and back to a suburban post office in Sydney.

In the early hours of morning, in the Sydney suburb of Wiley Park, a couple are loudly arguing in their car.

When a nearby resident tells them to shut up, he is shot at.

Police chase the vehicle, and search it. This police video records the discovery of a pistol on the floor of the car.

But police also notice that the serial numbers on its three major parts don’t match — and that all its components are virtually brand new.

Police realise they are now investigating an international smuggling operation.

“When there’s smoke, there’s fire. And if someone has got in three, there’s a high possibility that there’s more. So that pretty well launched Strike Force Maxworthy.”

— Det. Chief Insp. Grant Taylor

February 2012: ‘There’s a market out there … we are the providers’

Maxworthy detectives contact the Glock factory in Austria and learn that the weapons were sold to a small gun dealer in Germany, who in turn sold them to a buyer in Australia.

The guns were delivered to a post office in suburban Sydney…

READ MORE HERE: The wake-up call: The gun-running syndicate that shocked Australian law enforcement – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)