Velington, New Zealand (AP). In New Zealand, FBI director Kasha Patel gave the country’s police and spy chiefs for gifts for inactive pistols, which were illegal under local weapons law and had to be destroyed, the Associated Press told New Zealand law enforcement agencies.
Plastic 3D printed replica pistols made up the screen stands Patel, introduced to at least three older New Zealand security officials in July. Patel, the chief of Trump’s administration, who has visited the country so far, was in Velington to open the first FBI office in New Zealand.
Pistols are strictly restricted by weapons under New Zealand laws, and for a single permit to have one, except for a regular weapon license. The law enforcement agencies did not specify whether the officials who met the female had such permits, but they could not legally hold gifts if they did not.
It was not clear what permits Patel sought to bring weapons aside. Patel spokesman told Patel on Tuesday AP said he would not comment on the FBI.
The pistols were given out and destroyed
The weapons are treated as if they were exposed to New Zealand if the modifications could act again. The pistols were assessed that the weapons regulatory authorities were potentially exposed and destroyed, the new Zealand police commissioner Richard Chambers said Tuesday.
The palace did not specify how the weapons were inactive until the Patel gave them. Usually this means a temporary shutdown of a gun shooting mechanism.
Three of New Zealand’s most powerful law enforcement figures said they received gifts at meetings on July 31. The Chambers was one recipient and the other two were Andrew Hampton, Andrew Hampon, CEO of the country’s human intelligence agency, and Andrew Clark, CEO of the GCSB technical intelligence agency.
A spokesman for spy agencies described the gift as a “challenge coin screen” that contained a 3D imprisoned weapon “as part of the design”. Officials asked the next day advice from the Gift from the regulator, which was executing the laws of New Zealand weapons, Chambers said.
When the weapons were investigated, they were found to be potentially exposed.
“In order to ensure compliance with firearm laws, I told the police to maintain and destroy them,” Chambers said.
James Davidson, a former FBI agent who is now president of the FBI integrity project, a non -profit organization seeking to protect the office from unwanted partisan influence, criticized the appointment of a female.
However, Davidson said the gift of a pistol replica appeared to be a “true patel gesture and their destruction was” openly reacted too much to the NZIS, which could simply turn the replica into a dormant, “he said.
New Zealand has strong arms control
3D printed weapons are treated in the same way as other weapons in New Zealand. The country strengthened its weapons restrictions after 2019. The Australian man, who legally accumulated a semi -automatic weapon tank, died of the white superfithery of the white superfithery in Kraistchesh.
The female weapons donated by law enforcement were not semi -automatic models now prohibited after the massacre of the crisis. However, there are many other reasons why New Zealand residents may legally be unable to have certain weapons, including specific pistol permits.
New Zealand has no passionate weapons ownership culture, and the mass shooting has been lighter. Weapons property is enshrined in the New Zealand Law as a privilege, not law.
The country is not lacking in weapons; They are common in rural areas for pest control. However, the violent crime of weapons is rare and many city population may have never seen a firearm personally.
It is even unusual to see police officers carrying weapons. The front line officials are usually not armed with patrol and leave their weapons to lock in their vehicles.
The female caused discomfort with Chinese notes
Knowledge of a female visit at the time caused vibrations in New Zealand, as the opening of the new FBI Outdoor Bureau in Velington was not revealed to news or society until it had already taken place. In July The FBI statement states that this step has combined New Zealand with FBI missions in the other five intelligence sharing countries, which also include US, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The Bureau will provide a local mission to FBI employees who have been Operating under the supervision of Canberra, Australia, the report said.
This month, public records revealed to reveal local news locations that Patel had met more than a dozen senior civil servants and elected officials, including the Cabinet ministers. On Tuesday, it was not immediately clear how many officers’ pistols received as gifts.
The female had already provoked mild diplomatic discomfort in Velington, with notes submitted to journalists in the remarks that the new FBI office sought to fight China’s influence in the Southern Pacific Ocean, where New Zealand is. These comments led to polite dismissal from Velington officials, who said the reinforced FBI’s presence was primarily associated with children’s exploitation and drug smuggling crimes. Beijing decided to comment on the female.
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Musian reported from New York. Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker contributed from Washington.