The Australian Federal Police have taken responsibility for inaccurate information about whether Sydney siege gunman Man Haron Monis had a firearms licence.
Yesterday during a media conference Prime Minister Tony Abbott repeatedly said Monis had a gun licence.
The Australian Federal Police has now admitted to being the source of the information, which it provided to Mr Abbott in a briefing yesterday morning.
But police said further inquiries had revealed that Monis was not a registered firearms licence holder after all, and has never held a New South Wales gun licence.
“The information provided at the time was based on a manual entry in the National Police Reference System in the category of ‘Firearms Licence Holder’,” the statement said.
“The AFP has been working closely with CrimTrac, federal and state partners to establish the source of the entry, and to identify and any shortfalls within the current system.”
NSW Police Minister Stuart Ayres also said thorough checks showed Monis did not have a licence.
“There is absolutely no record of the gunman having a firearms licence here in NSW. Across a series of databases they have been checked and he has never had a gun licence,” he said.
The Government has ordered an urgent review into the siege.
The siege is also subject to a coroner’s critical incident investigation, a criminal investigation and an internal assessment.
Reblogged this on Real News Australia.
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