Gidday everyone- and heres hoping your christmas is going well for you and your family!
Has anyone out there ever handed in lost property to the police?
Just before sunrise this morning, I discovered an abandoned and damaged car on the Great Northern Goat Track, stopped the truck and checked it out to see if anyone was inside and needed help.
Found the car open, unlocked, no-one in the area- and 3 firearms on the front seat, two loaded, along with ammo scattered in and around the vehicle.
There was a lot of stuff scattered around the ute including a laptop and mini dvd player,
The bolts were missing from the rifles, but the .223 had a full mag- with one up the spout, and the shotgun had an empty case chambered.
The .22's magazine was there- and the rifle barrel is threaded for a silencer (not uncommon)
Empty and live ammo scattered throughout the ute- with a double handfull of live ammo on the drivers floor, live ammo and empties scattered outside as well.
No way was I going to leave this stuff unsecured out there, so bundled the firearms into the truck, along with all the ammo I could pick up, a couple of knives and a damaged petty cash tin with money, keys and SD cards.
No phone access, no comms around so we headed off towards Wubin checking for phone reception until I could raise a signal and arrange for police to meet us at Wubin.
Sarge was pretty happy, and was pretty quick to organise Mount Magnet Police to go and search the ute for the bolts (and possibly a silencer)
He mentioned I could put a claim in for the firearms if they turned out to be unlicensed- or were forfeited by the owner for being incredibly dumb with his firearms.
Sounds like a good offer to me!
So whats the drill? anyone deal with expensive stuff being won like this?
Stephen.
Probably some poor farmer went off in the bush for a dump and got back to find all his pop guns nicked.
He doesn't want to report it to the police because he will get nicked for not keeping his guns secure.
He's gonna be real mad when he catches up with you. 
^^^
possible, but I dont think so,
the SSSSSSSangyong ute had shattered its front left wheel and dug its nose into the dirt- enough to make anyone need to take a dump.
Putting 2 and 2 together, and probably getting 17 and a bit, but I think it could be a vehicle nicked from a driveway at a family christmas party- car thief finding car + house keys and address and going to car owners home- nicking firearms, laptop etc and heading north, shooting up the countryside before dropping a wheel into a pothole and damaging the rim which then failed- stranding the thief.
hitch hiking while carrying firearms probably is a bit difficult- so just walked away.
or
being half cut after a hunting holiday and christmas dinner at mum and dads farm, silly sod heads back north before stacking, chucks a wobbly when seeing how bad the damage is- tossing stuff around then stomping off for help at nearest station, or hitching a lift.
What I cant understand is in either case, the smart thing to do is wrap up the firearms, ammo and valuables in something, and stash them out of sight 50m or so into the bush so they can be retrieved later.
(been there-done that years ago when my 1 tonner's clutch died on the way back from fox hunting in Koorda)
stephen.
maybe somebody crashed it , then walked out but took the bolts and hid the rest, but the next person along made the mess when they broke in to pinch stuff. . I would keep track of the stuff if you have a claim on it as the coppers will have it off to auction quick smart if its unclaimed
a mate found a longboard on a median strip on marmion ave near mullaloo a few years ago.. Handed it into the local police, phoned back after the required amount of time and went to pick up his new board!! Very nice one too and legitimately done..
Differential thinking on the situation, I've seen a lot of car accidents where a more than a bit pissy driver wanders away leaving some questionable stuff behind..
How far between Wubin and Magnet? Wubin side of Paynes Find I imagine..
Or maybe its your car and youd been puffen on that magic dragon a little too much
Normally if you find lost property and hand it in after two months or something you can claim it back if the owner isn't located. Though firearms are a little tricky, they won't let you just 'have' them. You would have to apply for a license and go through that pain in the arse process. The threaded barrel has been illegally modified so it will probably be destroyed.
Most likely they will identify the owner through the serial numbers and look to charge him with a heap of stuff, then apply to have his license revoked and the guns destroyed.
You might get away with claiming the cash after two months, but if they can identify the owner of the firearms then they also have the owner of the cash.
It would be interesting to hear the circumstances as to why though, big thumbs up for gathering it all up and handing it in to the popo as soon as you could.
Chris,
threaded barrels are legal and very common.
Up until recently, silencers were OK in South Australia, still good in NZ, legit in most european countries and the UK even prefer you to have silencers on rifles AND shotguns.
The way they see it- you need a muffler on your car to contol noise, so why not your firearms?
Licensing of firearms is just a bit of paperwork- no great deal.
been there, done that, got the T shirt.
(supervised applications for several hundred firearms as a rifle club secretary over a 10+ year period)
Sunniboy,
I dont have a car at the moment- we are a one car family, I could really do with a van to cart my work gear and landyachting stuff around- but the sandwich makers sedan will have to do for a while.
I would not be buying myself a ruddy sssssangyong dual cab ute after seeing how well this one didnt take having a wheel shatter and digging into the road.
Bumstein,
The Sssssangyong dual cab ute was northbound on the Great Northern Goat Track, about 75 klicks north of Paynes Find.
Stephen
Is there not a possibility that your prints are now on weapons that have killed people? Unlikely, but just sayin'...
Ah.. See my guess would have been between paynes find and around ninghan... Fair few pissy drivers along that stretch!! Blind as a welders dog heading south for some reason.. Pretty interesting places along there :-) if you ever find out the story let us know!!
I had to laugh a few times on that trip.
My co-driver was a young Oirish kid, only been in Australia for a month, a bit of a culture shock coming from Ireland where its 30k's max between towns, water falls from the sky almost daily, and road trains are unheard of.
Danny almost melted at Christmas Creek in the time it took to undo the ratchet straps,
Eyes like saucers when we passed a road train, couldnt believe the size of mine sites. (Cloudbreak is waaaay bigger than his county)
When we found the firearms he asked "do people drive around with stuff like this" ("well, I do") I had to explain that many in the country do- but its not that common around the cities.
Then we drove into Paynes Find- and the poor kid thought we were in Wolf Creek
I think he was kinda happy to get home!
stephen
Ha!! Yeah it's pretty different to Ireland!!
I was working at Tom Price quite a while ago and a combi full of euro backpackers inadvertently found their way through a gate ended up driving down a pit ramp
Poor buggers must have been astounded at the size of the ute's these crazy folk drive in Oz and crap their nappy when wheels the size of small buildings trundle on past
