A MAN has been jailed for guns and drug offences after an undercover operation saw police raid his home south of Tamworth.
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Stephen Oliver appeared via video link in Tamworth Local Court for sentencing, after pleading guilty to nine offences at the end of last year.
The charges stem from a police raid on a Learmonth Street property in Willow Tree on October 29.
The most serious offences - possessing an unauthorised prohibited firearm and supplying more than an indictable amount of drugs - he was sentenced to an aggregate jail term of 15 months, with a non-parole period of eight months.
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In sentencing, magistrate Julie Soars also placed Oliver on a 12-month supervised community corrections order (CCO), or good behaviour bond, for the charges of possessing a prohibited drug; cultivating a prohibited plant; possessing restricted substances; housing suspected stolen goods; not keeping a firearm safely; and possessing a prohibited weapon without a permit.
For the charge of possessing ammunition, he was convicted without further penalty.
The sentence was backdated to start at the end of October when he went into custody. He will be eligible for parole at the end of June.
Some of the charges carried a maximum of 14 years' imprisonment, but the maximum penalty in the local court is two years' imprisonment.
Oliver has been in custody since his arrest by police from Strike Force Burchmore, after presenting to officers at Tamworth police station a day after the raid.
The Western Region Enforcement Squad - which is based in Tamworth - set up the strike force in June.
Its aim was to home in on those involved in the supply of methylamphetamine in the Willow Tree and Quirindi areas.
After months of investigations, officers swooped on the home.
Police alleged at the time they uncovered and seized a pistol, ammunition, a crossbow, drugs suspected to be methylamphetamine, as well as cannabis plants and other prohibited drugs.
Breanna Chillingworth
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
