On a visit to New Zealand, FBI director Kash Patel gave NZ police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed, law enforcement agencies told The Associated Press.

The plastic 3D-printed replica pistols formed part of display stands Patel presented to at least three senior NZ security officials in July. Patel, the most senior Trump administration official to visit the country so far, was in Wellington to open the FBI's first standalone office in New Zealand.

Pistols are tightly restricted weapons under New Zealand law and possessing one requires an additional permit beyond a regular gun licence.

Law enforcement agencies didn't specify whether the officials who met with Patel held such permits, but they couldn't have

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