Police find their bullets on busy street

Police have found the rifle magazine and bullets they lost a day earlier in Napier.

Hawke’s Bay Acting Area Commander Inspector Matt Broderick said the magazine reported lost on Wednesday after the execution of a search warrant in Napier had been located by police ‘‘and early indications are that it has not been tampered with’’.

The magazine was found yesterday morning on Marine Pde.

‘‘While an internal review of the incident is ongoing, police are not in the position to comment any further,’’ Broderick said yesterday.

The police magazine and ammunition was lost after an officer left it on top of a police car following the search of an address on Trinity Cres.

Yesterday, residents of the normally quiet area were mildly alarmed that officers had lost the magazine and bullets.

The father of the man believed to be the focus of the search said he arrived home to find his front door had been smashed open. His son was not home at the time and he did not know his whereabouts.

‘‘The neighbours said there was quite a few of them with guns and everything. It all seemed a bit extreme,’’ said the man, who did not want to be named.

He wasn’t aware of the missing magazine and bullets, but said they could be anywhere between his house and the Hastings police station some 17 kilometres away.

‘‘Someone will have them. It could have stayed on top of the car for a while,’’ he said.

‘‘I don’t know why they thought they needed guns. They were just looking for a few stolen products. They didn’t find anything because none of it was here,’’ he said.

A neighbour said he saw about seven cars and numerous police officers turn up at the house about mid-morning on Wednesday. ‘‘I just came into the house from out the back and there were cops everywhere,’’ said the man, who also did not want to be named.

He wasn’t too worried about the missing magazine: ‘‘Someone would have to have the gun to fire them. How many guys would have a Bushmaster rifle?’’ he said.

NZ First deputy leader Ron Mark said the incident showed the Police Association was wrong to target legal firearm owners while wanting to arm ‘‘all’’ police.

‘‘If this was a private firearms licence holder, they’d be going through the wringer about now,’’ he said.