Late last month, over $134,000 worth of historic firearms were stolen from the Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum, leading the Australian museum to close for the “foreseeable future.”
In a statement posted to Facebook, the museum said that the robbery, which occurred on August 25, led to “immeasurable damage” and that it “will not be reopening any time in the forseeable future. We have an awful lot of work to do and a few major challenges to overcome before we can reopen.”
Police told ABC News Australia that 27 handguns were stolen from the museum by three people wearing balaclavas, who then drove off in a silver Toyota Land Cruiser. The car was then found burnt out in Bathurst several hours later. Some of the guns were as old as the 1860s while others were from the World War I and World War II eras, including a P-38 Walther Luxus, a firearm often used by the Nazis.
John Watson, the local Drug and Firearms Squad Commander Detective Superintendent, told ABC that there are worries that the firearms might be made operational.
“Stolen firearms are a common currency within organised crime networks, which is why we are asking the community to help us find these firearms and identify those involved in their theft,” he said.
The Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum is a community-owned museum located on the old factory site. In addition to its display of machine guns, rifles, and handguns—many of which were manufactured at the factory—the museum also displays non-military items manufactured at the site, as well as photographs and memorabilia related to the history of Lithgow.
