The ABC understands the office of the Aboriginal Legal Service in Moree in Northern NSW has been raided by police as part of a probe into the alleged 3D printing of firearms by a solicitor employed by the service.<\/p>\n
Joshua David Gale, 32, was arrested during a police compliance check at a property in Moree on August 11, and has been charged with 16 offences, including the alleged manufacture of prohibited firearms.<\/p>\n
He was formally refused bail before a Bail Division Court hearing today.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old solicitor was charged with 16 offences.\u00a0 (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n
As part of the investigations, police also executed a search warrant on the offices of the Aboriginal Legal Service in the town’s CBD, where police will allege a 3D printer, blueprints for firearms and a number of digital devices were seized by investigators.<\/p>\n
During the compliance check on the second property, NSW Police allegedly seized a bolt-action rifle, two pistols, a semi-automatic privately manufactured firearm, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and ammunition manufacturing equipment.<\/p>\n
Addressing the media following the arrests, Detective Superintendent John Watson from the NSW Drug and Firearms Squad said the charges levelled against Mr Gale were extremely serious.<\/p>\n
“[The alleged offences] carry [a potential prison term} more than 10 and 14 years. It is not about the terms of imprisonment, it is more about the behaviour we’re seeing” Detective Superintendent Watson said.<\/p>\n
“The illicit manufacture [of firearms] is serious, it is something we’re seeing more of.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Police will also allege hundreds of rounds of ammunition were seized.\u00a0 (Supplied: NSW Police\u00a0)<\/p>\n
Mr Gale applied for bail in his first court appearance today, citing concerns for his safety in custody due to his employment as a criminal defence solicitor, but was denied it.<\/p>\n
“During my time as a solicitor I received numerous pointed threats of violence from former clients,” he told Judge Miranda Moody.<\/p>\n
“I maintain a large practice, I have numerous clients who will be substantially prejudiced if I’m bail refused.”<\/p>\n
Mr Gale also told the court he had a history of mental health issues and would need to access care while in custody.<\/p>\n
“I am diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, your honour, quite frankly very severe PTSD,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I fear this will be significantly exacerbated.<\/p>\n
“On reflection I most certainly need to seek mental health treatment.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Inquiries into the manufacture of 3D printed firearms commenced in Moree in April this year.\u00a0 (Supplied: NSW Police\u00a0)<\/p>\n
The court heard the 32-year-old had previously been sentenced to an intensive corrections order and was under a firearm prohibition order for offences dating back to 2019.<\/p>\n
Judge Miranda Moody said that if Mr Gale were to be convicted, a custodial sentence would be inevitable.<\/p>\n
“The nature and number of the weapons located substantially elevates the offending,” Police Prosecutor Sergeant Ashlee Uren said.<\/p>\n
“The defendant has again engaged in serious firearm offending, demonstrating prior sanctions have not worked.”<\/p>\n
Mr Gale was formally refused bail, and will next face court in early October.<\/p>\n
The Aboriginal Legal Service and The Law Society of NSW have been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ABC understands the office of the Aboriginal Legal Service in Moree in Northern NSW has been raided…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31939,68172,3340,22,21,1109,95065,4279,31488,95067,95066,95068],"class_list":["post-70172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-3d-printing","tag-ammunition","tag-arrest","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-court","tag-firearm-offenses","tag-firearms","tag-guns","tag-manufacturing-illegal-guns","tag-moree","tag-prohibited-guns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}