Man caught smuggling shotgun in suitcase
A man caught attempting to take a sawn-off shotgun on a flight from Christchurch to Hamilton was only caught because his bag was too heavy.
It was about 8.45am on July 6 when Arana Anderson was supposedly about to catch a flight to his home city.
However, his carry-on luggage was deemed to be too heavy – so he had to return to the check-in area where the bag was checked and scanned.
Inside, Aviation Security Service staff found a sawn-off shotgun with an altered pistol-grip handle and a shotgun shell.
Before he could be questioned about the discovery, Anderson took off and ran out of the airport.
Although it is not stated how in the summary of facts, it was not long before the police caught up with Anderson and arrested him.
‘‘I was stitched up by my cousin,’’ he told them.
The 28-year-old appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday, after earlier pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.
His counsel Gerard Walsh urged Judge Simon Menzies to take account of his client’s early guilty plea, as well as his deprived background.
‘‘A hope of a nice start to life has turned very quickly into a grim picture,’’ Walsh said.
‘‘He has ended up taking a path which has seen matters such as this come about.’’
Anderson wore sunglasses as he stood in the dock. This was because he only had one eye, his lawyer said.
Unfortunately for Anderson, he had come to court with more than 30 previous convictions. He had most recently been sentenced to 15 months in jail last year, after being convicted of dishonesty offences.
Judge Menzies took a starting point of 30 months in jail, before applying a 25% discount for his guilty plea, and a further 5% in acknowledgment of his ‘‘many adverse childhood experiences.’’
This led to an end sentence of 18 months in jail. Home detention was not something that would even be considered, given the gravity of the offence, the judge said. It was only in ‘‘very rare circumstance where firearms such as that will not end up in a sentence of imprisonment.’’