A GUN with part of its serial number removed has been seized after police raided a Tamworth home and discovered a hydrophonic setup.
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Luke Henry Wynne-Taylor is facing 12 charges after he was arrested in a vehicle stop on Robert St in South Tamworth on Thursday morning.
After questioning the 28-year-old, who was behind the wheel of the Mazda utility, officers searched the ute and found drugs and ammunition.
Following investigations, police from the Tamworth Target Action Group (TAG) and Oxley detectives raided a Hall St home in East Tamworth just over an hour later and will allege Wynne-Taylor was running a drug cultivation set-up.
Police allege a hydroponic operation was set up inside and officers seized four cannabis plants, cannabis leaf, cannabis seed, ammunition and a firearm.
“The firearm had its serial number partially scrubbed off,” Oxley Acting Inspector Geoff Sharpe told The Leader. “(It) will now undergo forensic and ballistics examinations.”
Wynne-Taylor is charged with acquiring or possessing a defaced firearm, possessing a shortened firearm, possessing an unregistered firearm, two counts of possessing ammunition, cultivating a prohibited plant, five counts of possessing a prohibited drug and possessing equipment to administer drugs.
He was refused bail by police and spent Thursday night in custody before he fronted a bail hearing in Tamworth Local Court on Friday morning.
Wynne-Taylor was not required to enter pleas but was granted conditional bail to live at a Tamworth address and will return to court in June.
The firearm is the fifth seized by police in less than a fortnight as part of joint operations between detectives and the TAG team in the Oxley Command.
“We would encourage anyone with information on the whereabouts of unregistered firearms to contact police,” Acting Inspector Sharpe said.
“That information will be treated very seriously and investigated.”