Air guns seized by gardai in Offaly shop 'resembled semi-automatic pistols'

Edenderry retailer on trial in Tullamore denies possessing realistic imitation firearms

Published 11th Jun 2026, 18:30 BST Trial taking place at Tullamore Circuit Court | Tribune Pictures Edenderry retailer on trial in Tullamore denies possessing realistic imitation firearms Sign up to our Offaly Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Offaly Live within your account.

EIGHT air guns which resembled semi-automatic pistols were found by an Offaly drugs unit garda when he arrived at a shop in Edenderry with a warrant, Tullamore Circuit Court has heard.

The guns were seized and resulted in store owner Ali Raza (29), Boyne Meadows, Edenderry, being prosecuted for the possession of realistic imitation firearms at Fone Geek, 28 JKL Street, Edenderry on November 13, 2024.

Mr Raza has denied a charge of having possession of the realistic imitation firearms without lawful authority or a reasonable excuse contrary to Section 9(a) of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act (1990) and his trial began at the Circuit Court on Thursday morning before a jury of seven men and five women with Judge Keenan Johnson presiding.

Detective Sergeant Colm Coffey told the court when he went into the shop, which sold and repaired mobile phoned, tablets, watches, as well as vapes, what was referred to as drug “paraphernalia”, and other items, he saw bongs and baggies.

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Detective Sergeant Coffey said he also saw eight realistic imitation firearms in a glass case and one of them was in an open box.

They struck him as being “very realistic” and he told Mr Raza he was seizing them.

The boxes containing the “airsoft” guns were produced in court and examples were handed to the jurors for examination.

Seven of the airsoft guns were similar and another one was larger and Detective Sergeant Coffey, who was himself trained in the use of firearms, said they were the same weight as an actual real gun.

He demonstrated the use of the magazine and bolt to the jurors after Shane Geraghty, BL, prosecuting (instructed by Sandra Mahon, Offaly state solicitor), said it had been “rendered safe”.

Because he was concerned the guns could have an energy force of more than one joule he decided they should be tested at the Garda Siochana ballistics section in Dublin.

Detective Sergeant Coffey gave further evidence of the arrest of Mr Raza and a memo of interview from when he was questioned on May 7, 2025.

The court heard Mr Raza was originally from Panjab, Pakistan but had been in Ireland for 24 or 25 years and preferred this country because it was “too hot over there”.

His father had come to Ireland for work and the accused himself had gone to school in Ireland and attended DCU.

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Mr Raza told gardai he was the owner of Fone Geek and was informed that the eight guns had been tested and were found to be realistic imitation firearms.

He agreed with gardai that the guns were “realistic looking” and that they were on display on the shopfloor.

He had bought them wholesale from a man who also sold vapes and had sold “two to three” from his shop, strictly to customers over the age of 18.

The accused said people who like to play paint ball used airsoft guns.

He said that he understood the garda's concerns and added that he had been told by the person who sold them to him that it was “ok”.

The jury was shown an invoice for some airguns from Trimex Wholesale, which the court heard is based at Fashion City, Ballymount in Dublin and the items were individually priced at between €70 and €90 wholesale.

Cross-examined by defence counsel David Nugent, BL (instructed by Marc Bairead, solicitor), Detective Sergeant Coffey said Mr Raza was not present at Fone Geek when he arrived with up to five other gardai but did arrive about 20 minutes later. One of the guns was priced at €199.

He agreed with Mr Nugent that the guns seized were “clearly identifiable as airsoft guns” which used pellets as projectiles but said they were similar in weight to his own weapon and there was the possibility their power could exceed one joule which would make them a firearm.

Detective Sergeant Coffey said realistic imitation firearms were usually “more of a plasticky frame” and in searches he would come across one which were “clearly a toy gun”.

Along with himself, two of the other gardai with him for the search were firearms trained. “We remarked on how realistic they were compared to our own firearms,” he said.

Detective Sergeant Coffey said he did not investigate the wholesaler, which Mr Nugent said was Trimex Ireland and Hot Deals Ltd, 13 Fashion City, registered with Revenue and a legitimate business in Ireland.

The witness agreed the guns were on open display and not “hidden out the back” in the store at Fashion City.

He added that his concern was that the guns on display in the shop in Edenderry could “fall into the hands of the wrong people”.

He said they were placed beside what he would call paraphernalia used in the drug world such as bongs and baggies. He did not seize those.

Detective Sergeant Coffey also told the court the ballistics report concluded that the guns resembled semi-automatic pistols but their muzzle energy did not exceed one joule.

When Mr Nugent put it to Detective Sergeant Coffey that the words “airsoft gun” were referred to three times on the gun box, and that made them distinguishable, the garda said his attention had been grabbed by the open box in the shop with the gun in it.

He believed that if a gun was held in the hand it would replicate a firearm and the weight, feel and look sparked his suspicion.

Detective Sergeant Coffey agreed that airsoft guns could be bought online and were used by people who gather and go around an obstacle course.

When Mr Nugent said Mr Raza had a reasonable excuse to have the guns because he had bought them from a wholesaler, the witness said the defendant's shop was “predominantly a phone shop” and it “looks off” for eight guns to be one sale with drug paraphernalia and that “adds a nefarious element”.

Detective Sergeant Coffey added that if he was off duty he would not be bringing his own children into that shop.

Mr Nugent said his client was not selling to under 18s and his was a legitimate business and Mr Raza was a legitimate businessman.

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Detective Sergeant Elaine Dodd, from the garda ballistics section, gave evidence of testing the guns and explained that the joule was the measure of energy used to measure the power of a non-lethal firearm.

The weapon is discharged into a tunnel which measures distance and time and the result for the eight guns was that they were under one joule and so were within the permitted threshold.

She said all of the guns were in good condition and resembled semi-automatic pistols and one of them was, in her opinion, similar to a Beretta.

Detective Sergeant Dodd said the items were not firearms within the meaning of the relevant sections of the Firearms and Criminal Justice Acts but could be regarded as imitation firearms if used in the commission of certain crimes.

They could also be considered offensive weapons if used for intimidation in a public place and could be regarded as realistic imitation firearms if possessed in a public place and appeared to the “ordinary observer” indistinguishable from an ordinary firearm.

Replying to Judge Johnson, Detective Sergeant Dodd said an air gun could be legally classified as a firearm if it was capable of firing above one joule and their power could not be known until they were tested.

She said it had been the case where airsoft guns purporting to be one joule were over that limit when tested. “They can be subject to manipulation,” she stated.

She agreed with Mr Nugent that had not happened in the case before the court.

Mr Geraghty said the evidence of Detective Sergeant Dodd completed the prosecution case.