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A Western Sydney man has been charged after a gun was found in his luggage at Sydney Airport.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have claimed Antonios Habib Moussa was caught on 28 December with a disassembled shotgun and ammunition by a security worker X-raying his checked baggage.
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Moussa was subsequently stopped from boarding a flight to Lebanon, and remained in custody over the New Year period before facing Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday.
“There was allegedly an initial claim that the weapon was a ‘drenching gun’ used for agricultural farming,” said AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Dom Stephenson.
“However, the AFP subsequently determined the weapon was a shot gun broken down into two parts. This is a serious weapon with the potential to cause real harm.
“Security screening staff at the airport were vigilant and along with AFP officers, acted quickly to ensure the safety of the travelling public and stop weapons being taken offshore.”
The AFP alleges that the gun was not registered to Moussa, though the man’s lawyer claimed in court that the gun was registered, and was “inoperative” by dint of being 80 years old with a broken stock.
“There is no link with this weapon, albeit piecemeal in its packaging, with any offence committed or in any way a gun of some suspicion,” he said.
Moussa has been released on $20,000 bail, on the condition that he not possess firearms or enter any of Australia’s international points of entry and that he reports to police twice per week. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
Moussa’s court appearance follows last year’s sentencing of a Florida woman who was caught with a 24-karat gold-plated handgun, also at Sydney Airport.
Liliana Goodson, now 30, was arrested in April 2023 after Border Force officers found the $3,000 pistol in her luggage, and will serve 12 months – four of them in full-time custody – after pleading guilty to illegally importing a firearm and ammunition.
Goodson will also be fined $1,000, required to be on good behaviour for two years, and given drug counselling when she is released.
