Firearms continue to make their way into the hands of criminals in Bendigo with 15 guns reported stolen since January 1.

Police recovered 12 of the stolen weapons, including shotguns, rifles and a handgun, in a series of raids during the past three weeks.

The guns were seized along with illegal knives, tasers, knuckle dusters and swords as well as quantities of methamphetamine, ecstasy and stolen property.

Detective Acting Sergeant Jason Smith of the Bendigo Crime Investigation Unit said nine arrests were made as a result of the raids, with four of those offenders further remanded in relation to firearms, drugs and stolen goods matters.

He said some of the offences related to the possession of a “traffickable” quantity of guns, defined as possession of three or more unregistered firearms.

Detective Acting Sergeant Smith said there was no indication the recovered firearms were used in any other offences, but the fact they were in the hands of criminals was itself a concern.

“They’re all in possession of people that we can say should not have been in possession of them,” he said.

“It’s concerning, especially when drugs become involved as well.”

The new information comes on the back of incidents in which a shotgun was fired through the front door of a house in Sternberg Street on December 17 and a man presented at Bendigo Health suffering a gunshot wound on November 27 last year.

Detective Acting Sergeant Smith said the number of guns stolen from their legitimate owners over such a short period was “alarming” and called for gun owners to be vigilant in securing their firearms.

“A lot of them relate to persons breaking into premises and locating the firearms safe,” he said.

“Certainly it goes to just ensuring that people that have got firearms are vigilant of where they’re stored and how they’re stored and ensuring they’re stored correctly.”

Detective Acting Sergeant Smith said information from the public had been critical to the success of the raids and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

“We’re calling on anyone who’s got any information of persons that are in possession of firearms that shouldn’t be, or has knowledge of any burglaries of any nature to contact Crime Stoppers,” he said.

“We’ll certainly be acting on that information and any information we can get to retrieve any firearms that are in the wrong hands is certainly of benefit to us.”

Call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.