Guns, drugs found in Tasmania bunker raids
More than 20 guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and illegal drugs hidden in underground bunkers have been seized from two properties in rural Tasmania.
Police raided the addresses near the town of Longford in the state's north on Thursday and Friday last week.
They charged a 40-year-old man with several firearms and ammunition offences, as well as unlawfully possessing property and cultivating and possessing a controlled plant.
It is alleged hydroponic cannabis was discovered in shipping container-sized bunkers at the property.
One was underneath a house and there were "two to three" underground in bushland, police say.
"Anyone that is going to go to the extent of hiding a bunker on a property or in a house is going to make it fairly well concealed," Detective Inspector Chris Fox told reporters in Launceston on Wednesday.
"But we are well-trained in looking for dimensions that don't look right," Insp Fox said, such as the side of a house where the internal walls look a lot smaller and outside areas where earth has been upturned.
"It's not unusual to find hidden rooms, it is unusual to find hidden bunkers."
Insp Fox said the bunkers were well constructed and had been there for some time as they were covered by bushland undergrowth.
Rifles and pistols were among the 21 firearms seized during the raid, which was part of an illegal gun crackdown in northern Tasmania sparked by a string of shooting incidents in recent months.
More than 55 guns in total have been seized by police in the last few weeks.
The man has been granted bail and is expected to appear in Launceston Magistrates Court on August 18.
Police expect to also charge other people.
