A high ranking church official in Samoa has been convicted and sentenced to 12 months in jail for possession of unlawful guns and ammunitions.
The 49 year old man was sentenced yesterday in the District court following a police raid at his house on 25 February this year.
He was found with the possession of several illegal weapons and almost 400 rounds of ammunitions, all of which were compatible for use with the weapons found.
Taputoa Ualesi Kaio was convicted of each 11 charges all to be served concurrently according to court documents.
Senior district court judge Vui Clarence Nelson in his ruling said 12 months sentence should be sufficient for the first offender.
Last month the police and custom officials had confiscated illegal guns smuggled by several people in their containers of personal belongings such as vehicles.
